Arnos Vale, St. Vincent – April 3, 2017 – Over the weekend, Windwards Volcanoes teammates Sunil Ambris and Shane Shillingford achieved record breaking milestones in Round 8 of the Digicel-sponsored WICB Regional 4-Day match against the Leewards Hurricanes at Warner Park in St. Kitts’. On Saturday March 25 th , 2017, Ambris set a new record for highest score of a Windwards batsman in Regional first class cricket, and the following day, Shillingford bowled himself to the milestone of taking 500 first class wickets.
By the second day St. Vincent born Ambris stroked 27 fours and 5 sixes to reach his score of 231; he contributed to the Volcanoes’ incredible first innings score of 540, thereby breaking the 1997 batting record of 218 by fellow batsman/wicket-keeper Junior Murray of Grenada.
Murray showered his congratulations on Ambris and wished the 24 year-old right hander all the best towards the future. "As a young man this score shows his potential and I hope to see the Volcanoes, with many seasoned batsmen, scoring such big scores a lot more consistently.”
“For me it’s an honour to join the ranks of players like Murray who have set these kinds of records in cricket,” said Ambris. “It feels awesome breaking a record that was there even before I started playing.
It wasn’t even in my thoughts, at least not this early in my career”. Ambris said he is even more excited for his tour roommate Shillingford, who also reached a milestone in this match.
The Dominican born off-spinner, Shane Shillingford leads a one-man assault against the Hurricanes, and was instrumental in pushing the Volcanoes to victory in what was an exciting contest. He claimed three for 42 at the start of the Hurricane’s innings then returned later in the innings to wrap up the Hurricanes with six for 78 on Sunday to record his milestone of 500 wickets in first class cricket. “It’s a great achievement” said Shillingford, “I didn’t think about it until I only needed 3 wickets to get to 500, so of course, I had to do it.” Shillingford’s achievement was lauded by many fellow regional bowlers.
On the morning of day 1, Leewards Hurricanes won the toss and sent Volcanoes to bat where they scored 540 all out in 127 overs. The efforts of Ambris and Shillingford, along with their teammates wrecked any chance for the Hurricanes. Kyle Mayers in his partnership with Ambris hit 76 runs.
Rounding up the batting were Devon Smith 65, Shane Shillingford 31, Tyrone Theophile 30, Jerlani Robinson 29 and Captain Liam Sebastien 25. For the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Cornwall took 4 wickets and Campbell 3.
In reply, Hurricanes made a restricted 240 in 89.3 overs. Shillingford’s bowling assault of six for 78 in 34.3 overs was supported by Delorn Johnson’s three for 43 in 16 overs. Asked to follow-on by the Volcanoes, despite a century from Carty (103), the Hurricanes were bowled out for 351 in 114.4 overs. For the Volcanoes, Shane Shillingford with his 2nd five for wicket haul of the match, 6 for 114 in 34.4 overs was ably assisted by Captain Liam Sebastien who took 3 for 79 in 28 overs.
Set 52 for victory, the Windwards Volcanoes got to their target registering a 7 wicket victory over Leewards. Tyrone Theophile remaining on 31 not out. The Volcanoes will come up against Jamaica Scorpions in Round 9 in a home game at Arnos Vale Stadium in St. Vincent.
The Windward Islands Volcanoes team in Round 8:
Liam Sebastien (Capt.), Kyle Mayer (Vice Capt.), Sunil Ambris (WK), Jerlani Robinson, Roland Cato, Shane Shillingford, Keddy Lesporis, Tyrone Theophile, Delorn Johnson, Gian Benjamin, Kenroy Peters, Devon Smith, Shermon Lewis.
