The West Indies narrowly overcame Caribbean domestic champions Barbados by ten runs in an intriguing low-scoring encounter at the National Sports Centre last night.

Set only 133 to win after the Windies batsman had struggled to adapt to the slowness of the NSC pitch after a long tour of the UK, Barbados also found life difficult in reply, finding themselves at 54 for six off 24 overs.

However, captain Sherwin Campbell, who was once a mainstay at the top of the West Indies batting order, coaxed his team out of trouble with an intelligent and patient innings of 45 in tandem with the excellent Ryan Hurley (37).

Batting first, the West Indian batsman were confronted with a surface where the ball stubbornly refused to come on to the bat, and several top order batsman perished attempting to drive the ball on the up through the offside.

Chris Gayle, who became the first batsman in Test history to hit six fours in one over in the recently-concluded Test match against England at The Oval in London was out caught in the gully slashing at a wide one from Kurt Wilkinson while Sylvester Joseph (6) and Wavell Hinds (27) both offered simple catches to the fielders in the ring having committed to their shots too early.

And without the patience of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who batted for over two hours for his 19 not out, the Windies would have been in the mire.

For Barbados, the gangling left arm slow bowler Suliemann Benn and big turning off spinner Ryan Hurley were virtually unplayable on a wicket that both of them must dream of bowling on every day of their careers.

West Indies' left arm quick Ian Bradshaw impressed with figures of six for 15 off his allotted ten overs - although team manager Tony Howard commented afterwards that it was important not to read too much into bowling performances on a wicket so heavily weighed in the bowlers' favour.

He said also the West Indian camp were more concerned about “getting a decent workout” before the Champions Trophy later this month and less with their record of results on this short tour.

“Bradshaw was pretty consistent in terms of his line and length and he got the rewards for that,” he said.

“But on a wicket such as the one we just played on, it is difficult to assess the true value of any bowlers performance. But in general we are happy that we won the game but our time in Bermuda is about getting some exercise and preparing for the Champions Trophy so winning or losing does not really come into the equation for us.”