First-Class Matches West Indies 1989/90 to 1998/99

182 West Indies in 1996/97 Barbados’s was a strong and well-balanced side which featured three of the competition’s top six runscorers and three of its top eight wicket-takers. They were helped by the fact that five of the six players in question were able to play in all ten of their Cup matches, something that could be said of only two other cricketers in the region as international calls, and the Guyanese weather, cut into the opportunities for others to play in every match of the competition. It is not surprising that in a domestic competition twice as long as usual, several new seasonal records were set. Barbadian Floyd Reifer beat Lara’s old competition record of 715 runs by scoring 756 at 44.07, but despite the extra matches he was the only batsman to do so. Among the bowlers, Rose (45 wickets in eight matches, at 15,42) couldn’t quite surpass Rajindra Dhanraj’s competition record of 48 wickets in a season; but his Jamaican team-mate Shane Ford was able to set a new record with 33 wicketkeeping dismissals in the season (32ct 1st), overtaking Courtney Browne’s 1992/93 figure of 27. The season as a whole consisted of a record 39 first-class matches (excluding the three abandoned games) – a figure that was felt at the time to have placed too many demands on the players. The name at the top of the season’s overall runscorers however came as no surprise: Brian Lara scored 965 runs at, for him, the humble average of 43.86. He finished just one run ahead of Stuart Williams (Leeward Islands), whose 964 runs came at an average of 38.56. Franklin Rose was the new name at the top of the overall bowling lists, with 71 wickets at 18.39. This was a new all-time record (since equalled but not beaten) for a home-based player in a West Indian season, ahead of the previous record of 59 set by Colin Croft in 1976/77. And while behind the stumps Courtney Browne may have lost his Red Stripe Cup record, his figure of 42 victims in all matches (40ct 2st) set a new record by any wicketkeeper in a West Indian season, surpassing the figure of 33 recorded by Jeff Dujon twice in the 1980s. Abandoned matches Guyana v Leeward Islands, Albion Sports Complex, Albion, Guyana, 31 January, 1, 2, 3 February 1997. Guyana v Jamaica, Everest CC Ground, Georgetown, Guyana, 7, 8, 9, 10 February 1997 (originally scheduled to be played at Bourda in Georgetown, but moved to Everest CC when it became clear that no play would be possible at Bourda). Guyana v Windward Islands, Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana, 14, 15, 16, 17 February 1997. RED STRIPE CUP 1996/97: FINAL TABLE P W L LWF DWF DLF ND Ab Pts 1 Barbados 10 6 2 0 2 0 0 0 112 2 Jamaica 10 4 1 1 2 1 0 1 93 3 Leeward Islands 10 4 2 0 0 2 1 1 80 4 Trinidad & Tobago 10 3 2 0 2 2 1 0 76 5 Guyana 10 0 1 0 2 4 0 3 44 6 Windward Islands 10 0 5 3 1 0 0 1 27