Tucker shines with the ball in Bermuda win
Barbados Defence Force 63Bermuda 131 all outVeteran all-rounder Janeiro Tucker followed up his 157 in a winning cause in the tour opener in Barbados on the weekend with amazing figures of six wickets for six runs from 7.5 overs as the Barbados Defence Force were skidded out for just 63 yesterday in Weymouth as Bermuda won by nine wickets.Tucker, just weeks shy of his 38th birthday, defied his age to produce one of the best bowling performances of his career. The vice captain, the fourth Bermuda bowler used, had four maidens in his spell as the Defence Force were dismissed in 23.5 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat.Only two Defence Force batsmen reached double figures, number three bat Antonio Greenidge with 26 and Athelbert Braithwaite with 14. The pair added 32 for the second wicket in taking the score to 40, before captain Rodney Trott and vice captain Tucker’s wreaked havoc with the ball, taking the next nine wickets between as Trott finished with three for 21 from eight overs of spin after coming on as first change. Kamau Leverock and Greg Maybury shared the new ball for Bermuda, with Maybury claiming one for 15 from four overs and Leverock 0-21 in his four overs before Trott and Tucker ripped through the Defence Force batting.“He exploited the conditions, it was a bit overcast and the wicket was slow and taking a little bit of turn,” coach Arnold Manders said of Tucker’s performance with the ball. “With his variation of turn and swing it was good bowling and he was well supported by Rodney from the other end. We tried to get them to bowl in partnerships and bat in partnerships and on the field they did pretty good.”Bermuda had a solid start with Treadwell Gibbons and Dion Stovell putting on 51 for the first wicket before Stovell went off with a wrist injury after scoring 18. Jekon Edness departed without scoring, leaving Gibbons and Tre Manders to pass the score.Bermuda agreed to have a ‘revised target’ of 230 set in order to give the batsmen some more time in the middle but lost wickets regularly after passing the score, with Gibbons and Kamau Leverock departing on 88 and Jacobi Robinson on 93. Bermuda were dismissed for 131 in 38.5 overs. Gibbons was the top scorer with 51 while Manders scored 15 while Stovell returned and was eventually sixth out for 24 when the score was 109.Tucker did not bat in the Bermuda innings as reserve Jacobi Robinson batted at number six and captain Trott dropped down to number 11. Greenidge and Ravendra Persaud each claimed four wickets for the Defence Force, Greenidge taking four for 16 from six overs and Persaud four for 24 from 10.“I set a target of 230 and maybe in hindsight it was too much,” said Manders. “We left guys who hadn’t spent any time at the crease go first and Janeiro didn’t even bat. I’m a little disappointed they didn’t buckle down and get to the target that we set. That’s what we’ve been doing at Bailey’s Bay because we’ve only been out (in the middle) five or six times.“The ones in England (Leverock, Manders, Maybury and Rawlins) have been struggling a bit because they haven’t been doing anything. Tre had done well with only having a couple of net sessions in England before he came.”The team will play their final match in Barbados today when they take on a Barbados Select this morning in a 20/20 match at the same venue.”Stephen Outerbridge will return to make his debut as captain of the Bermuda team for the upcoming World T20 qualifiers in Fort Lauderdale from March 18-25. Ten members of the current team in Barbados will travel with the national team again next month, with the likes of Outerbridge, Lionel Cann, David Hemp and Malachi Jones coming in to boost the team for the tournament which sees the top two teams progressing to the World T20 qualifying event in Dubai in November. Canada have already qualified from the Americas region.Following this event the BCB has organised with the USA a four-match 50 over series in preparation for the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 tournament before the squad returns to Bermuda on March 30th."I am looking forward to this important event as we aim to repeat our previous successful qualification to the global qualifier later this year,” said Outerbridge. “As the World T20 in 2014 will feature six Associate and Affiliate nations rather than just two in 2012, the opportunities to progress to the world stage again are very encouraging and exciting."Bermuda squad: Stephen Outerbridge (captain), Jason Anderson, Lionel Cann, Jekon Edness, Dion Stovell, David Hemp, Janeiro Tucker, Rodney Trott, Jacobi Robinson, Sammy Robinson, Greg Maybury, Kamau Leverock, Malachi Jones, Tre Manders. Standby player is Dennico Hollis.