An inexperienced Sussex side, victors against Netherlands in the opening game of Caribbean T20 found the going tougher against Jamaica in Antigua when they crashed to a 50-run defeat.
Jamaica's second straight win in Group B owed much to Nkruma Bonner, who struck an unbeaten 66 off 57 balls to set up a competitive score of 152 for 5. Bonner struck seven fours and a six in his knock and was part of a 51-run opening stand with Kennar Lewis. Sussex did fight back with a couple of quick wickets but important contributions of 20 and 24 from Carlton Baugh and Andre Russell respectively, in the company of Bonner, shored up the innings.
Most heartening for Sussex was the form of their inexperienced leg-spinner Will Beer. Beer has been largely protected from limited-overs cricket but he was summoned back from grade cricket in Adelaide for the tournament and he turned in a parsimonious spell of 1 for 13 in four overs and was also unfortunate to have Bonner dropped in the deep.
Sussex began brightly, reaching 49 for the loss of Matt Machan, run out without scoring, but after Chris Nash was bowled by legspinner Odean Brown for 26 they subsided rapidly to 73 for nine with a stream of rash strokes against the spinners. The last-wicket pair of Amjad Khan and Chris Liddle delayed the inevitable with a stand of 29.
Brown picked up three wickets and Krishmar Santokie, Nikita Miller and Marlon Samuels grabbed two each. Only three Sussex batsmen reached double figures. Sussex's next fixture is against Combined Campuses and Colleges, also at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, on Saturday.
Netherlands were steamrolled by Barbados in Antigua, losing by 10 wickets after being bowled out for 73. Offspinner Ashely Nurse picked up three wickets and was supported by Tino Best, Carlos Brathwaite and Sulieman Benn, each of whom made breakthroughs and bowled economically. The top score in the Netherlands innings was 16, by Michael Swart. The Barbados openers just took 7.3 overs to finish the game off. Dwayne Smith smashed six fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 49 off 27 balls and captain Kirk Edwards chipped in with 22.
