Sent into bat in what had become a 12-over per side contest due to morning rain the Tortola team was restricted to 73 for 5 on a sluggish pitch. Dorian Auguiste who was to be named Tournament MVP top scored with 28, Maxford Pipe added 19 and Monty Butler added some late spice with a typical hard hitting 13.

For the USVI Andrew Eusebe finished with 3 for 14. In reply, the USVI got off to a steady start, despite some tight bowling by Brent Defreitas, Auguiste and Jagnarine Persaud.

Dale Africa, who top scored for the USVI with 28, fell with just over two overs to go and 15 still needed, However, Doyle Jones and Colin Joseph managed to “milk” the remaining runs and secure victory with 3 balls to spare.

As MVP Dorian Auguiste was quick to point out, “the team had played well to reach the final, but we were just 30 to 40 runs short, otherwise we had the bowling to bring it home.”

The team made up of the best available players from the VI was captained by Defreitas and also included Daniel Singh, Neil Niles, Rohan Campbell, Yadav, Charlie Jackson and Travis Jack.

The weather did its best to interrupt proceedings from the first game and in fact no match lasted the full 20 overs. In the first game, the USVI current national team beat their Masters counterparts, before Tortola then beat the USVI by 2 runs. This game was 15 overs per side with Butler’s 38 powering Tortola to 122. Pipe scored 25, Persaud 22 and Neil Niles 18.

In reply Auguiste’s spell of 3 for 10 from 2 overs proved decisive as the USVI finished on 120. Nyra Stewart top scored with 40 and Colin Joseph added 22. Persaud also picked up two crucial wickets in his spell.

Overnight rains brought a long delay to Sunday’s start, which eventually got under way with a match between Tortola and the USVI Masters that was reduced to 12 over per side.

Auguiste with 38 and Pipe with 39 got the innings off to a cracker before wickets fell in a push for runs and the final score of 116 was top prove too few as Terrence Webb set about the bowling.

Webb smashed his way to 48 to lead his team home with 3 balls to spare. Pipe finished with 4 for 31 and Auguiste 2 for 19.

Net run rate calculations and much discussion ensued before the organizers could decide which teams had reached the final, but eventually the USVI National team was given the chance for revenge in what proved one match too many for the weary Tortola team.

Brent Defreitas led the team from the front as always and was full of praise for the event.

“We played 3 games and won the first one comfortable. On Sunday we played back to back matches and it was very tiring for the players. Auguiste and Pipe both played well, but we didn’t get the end result we wanted. The final went down to the wire and was very tense. We need to do more things like this so cricket can get more exposure and people can see the talent we have in the BVI.”