Barbados U19 Team Emerges Victorious in 2024 West Indies Rising Stars Men’s Under-19 2-Day Final, Sets Sights on 50-Over Title

Barbados are the 2024 West Indies Rising Stars Men’s Under-19 2-Day Champions, having taken first-innings points from defending champions, Jamaica, in the final at the Arnos Vale Playing Field in Kingstown, St Vincent & the Grenadines on Sunday. And now they are hungry for further success.

A half-century from Raneico Smith when first put in to bat earned Barbados batting points, guiding them to 200-9 declared. Overall tight bowling and three-wicket hauls for fast bowler Jatario Prescod (3-51 from 14 overs) and spinner Saurav Worrell (3-24 from 10) helped them restrict Jamaica to 127-8 declared.

Then, on the second day, Kyle Jordan (62) and wicketkeeper Joshua Morris (52) combined for a 96-run opening stand that ended the game as a contest. For Jordan, it was his second half-century of the tournament.

But the run is not over, as the Barbados U19 team is on a mission to capture multiple titles. The 2-Day Champions are upbeat, confident, and ready to bring it all for the 50-over title, which begins on Tuesday.

Captain Nathan Sealy articulated the feeling as “amazing” after leading his team to the 2- Day title, which has eluded him for the past two years while representing Barbados at these Championships.

“It’s been an all around collective effort from the team,” Sealy indicated. “But to be very honest, I have to give a big shout out to Jatario Prescod, for the majority of the games he really rescued us from a bad situation, he put his hand up, he fought for the team.”

Team manager, Jabbar Niles shared his feelings about the team also. “The mood in the camp is a very elated and joyous feeling,” he pronounced. “There is also a sense of relief as well, after back-to-back finals losses in this red ball version of the tournament.’

Niles also noted similar sentiments as Sealy, speaking on the importance and unified effort of the entire squad, along with the praises of Prescod who made two timely half centuries.

“The tournament was very challenging and needed a collective team effort to achieve this goal,” he told Barbados TODAY. “Jatario Prescod’s performances stood out, where batting at nine in the first game he was at that time the unlikely hero with the bat, he continued his excellent form with both bat and ball for all four games.”

He also made mention of the importance in having the strong support and experience of the coaches.

“The knowledge and experience of both head coach Sherwin Campbell and assistant coach Dexter Toppin was also very imperative to the success of the tournament and you could see from the planning, execution and resilience throughout the tournament,” Niles added.