Anguilla talent on display - future looks bright.

(Stanford 2020, St. John's Antigua) Classical batting from 20-year-old Montcin Hodge (caption photo) delighted Anguilla fans and displayed his immense talent  but it was not enough for the team, who gave a valiant effort, chasing 178 for victory.  Anguilla scored an entertaining 161 for 4 with Hodge not out on 75 from 39 balls, including 7 sixes and 2 fours. Particularly attractive from Hodge were his wonderful plethora of sixes over extra cover each emphasizing balance, timing, power and skill.

Grenada won by 16 but needless to say, Anguilla's foundation is solid.

Anguilla won the toss and elected to field first. The Anguillian youngsters (average age 19.5) were belted for more than 10 runs an over in the first 10 overs but managed to peg it back in the 2nd half, thanks to more disciplined bowling and good captaincy by Chaka Hodge. 17-year-old Shridath Rey bowled the 11th over for only four runs. His first three overs gave up only 9 runs and helped significantly in restricting Grenada to 177 for 6 from their 20 overs; this was the highest score of the Stanford 2020 thus far in 2008 but easily could have been a +200 total.

Chaka Hodge was the most economical and effective Anguillian bowler, snaring 2 wickets for 26 runs from his 4 overs. 17-year-old Kelbert Walters got off to a rough start with the ball, but it was not hard to see how this young man could be developed into an international cricketer of some prowess. Bowling at 86 mph., his first 2 overs were a bit wayward and cost him 23 runs. Coming back later in the innings however, his last two overs went for only 8 runs and he captured the prized wicket of Fletcher (70).

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	KP Walters	4	0	31	1	7.75
	DR Proctor	4	0	37	1	9.25
	CF Hughes	1	0	15	0	15.00
	CJK Hodge	4	0	26	2	6.50
	OAC Banks	3	0	38	1	12.66
	S Rey	4	0	28	1	7.00

Omari Banks, Anguilla's most experienced cricketer, scored a fighting 44 runs before he was run out. It was his 10 over, 93 run partnership with Hodge (the highest of the game) that brought Anguilla within sight of victory and it was his departure that saw the tide flow ever so slightly back in favour of Grenada.

Fall of Anguilla wickets 1-26 (Richardson, 4.3 ov), 2-33 (Hughes, 5.5 ov), 3-126 (Banks, 15.5 ov), 4-145 (Lake, 19.2 ov)

Anguilla innings
(target: 178 runs from 20 overs)
L Richardson c Alexander b Pascal 18
CF Hughes c Baptiste b T George 8
OAC Banks run out (Sylvester) 44
MV Hodge not out 75
R Lake c DM George b Sylvester 13
J Hamilton not out 0
Extras (w 2, nb 1) 3

Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 161 (8.05 runs per over)
Did not bat DR Proctor, CJK Hodge, S Rey, KP Walters, J Johnson