ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Both Barbados Pride and Trinidad and Tobago Red Force ended the opening day of the third round of matches in the West Indies Championship on Sunday in dominant positions.
Roston Chase finished the day unbeaten on 82 for Barbados Pride.For the third straight match, the Pride’s batters bettered the Jamaica Scorpion’s bowlers on their way to finishing the day on 320 for five.
Meanwhile, the Red Force were similarly impressive, with their batsmen propeling them to 260 for three in their rain-shortened contest against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
Elsewhere, defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles shared opening day honours with the Windward Islands Volcanoes.
At the Antigua Recreation Ground in Antigua: Unbeaten half centuries by captain Joshua Da Silva and Amir Jangoo ensured that the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force claimed bragging rights after day one against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
Da Silva finished on 72 not out, while Jangoo was 69 not out, helping to carry the visitors to 247 for three.
The start of the match was delayed by over and hour due to rain, but when play finally got underway T&T suffered an immediate setback when opener Evin Lewis picked up an injury and was forced to retired hurt.
Oshane Thomas then piled on the pressure by dismissing Cephas Cooper for six with 27 runs on the board.
Jyd Goolie, who made 36 and Jason Mohammed, who scored a brisk 47, added 61 runs for the second wicket before medium pacer Cameron Pennyfeather had Goolie caught.
The Red Force then found themselves 115 for three after Thomas returned to snare the wicket of Mohammed three runs short of a well-deserved half century.
However, from thereon the visitors took control of the contest with Da Silva and Jangoo sharing an unbroken partnership of 132 for the fourth wicket.
Da Silva has so far faced 125 deliveries and struck eight fours in his two hour and 20-minute stay at the crease, while Jangoo’s three hour stay included 137 balls and also contained eight fours.
Thomas has taken 2-44 for the Hurricanes.
At Sabina Park in Jamaica: Needing a win to have any chance of advancing to the knockout round of the competition, Barbados Pride made an encouraging start in their do or die contest against the Jamaica Scorpions.
The Pride was yet again bolstered by its batting unit, with three batters scoring half centuries which saw them accumulate a healthy 346 for five after day one
Their dependable opening pair featuring captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Shayne Moseley gave them a solid start in putting on 55 runs.
Their stand was eventually broken when Moseley was run out by Marquino Mindley for 23.
It brought Jonathan Drakes to the crease and together with his skipper they batted the visitors into a comfortable position during a partnership of 145 runs.
Odean Smith finally got the breakthrough for the Scorpions by prising out Brathwaite after he had scored 74 from 164 balls and hit seven fours,
And seven runs later they struck again, when Drakes, who had progressed nicely to 94 and looked set to complete his fourth first class century, was stumped off the bowling of offspinner Brad Barnes to leave the score 207 for three. In all, he faced 148 balls and hit 12 fours and one six.
The in-form Kevin Wickham, scorer of three consecutive centuries to start the tournament, was caught and bowled by Barnes for just five and Khari Campbell trapped Kyle Mayers lbw for one, as the Scorpions fought back at 254 for five.
However, there was no further success for the home side for the remainder of the day, with West Indies Test captain Roston Chase and Leniko Boucher sharing an unbroken partnership of 92 runs.
Chase has so far scored a run-a-ball 82 with 12 fours and one six, while Boucher is 40 not out off just 46 balls.
Barnes has been the Red Force’s best bowler so far with 2-56.
At the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua: Led by an impressive bowling performance by Ryan John and Darel Cyrus, the Windward Islands Volcanoes were able to restrict the progress of the Guyana Harpy Eagles.
The two bowlers shared seven wickets between them and were the main reasons why the Harpy Eagles were bowled out for 242 runs.
Volcanoes would have ended the day in the driver’s seat had the Harpy Eagles not claimed the key wicket of Ackeem Auguste late in the day to see them finish on 22 for one, trailing by 220 runs.
All in all, the Harpy Eagles would have been happy to get up to their eventual total after a disappointing showing from their top order.
Gilon Tyson trapped Matthew Nandu lbw for a duck, John bowled Kevlon Anderson for five, while Shadrack Descarte dismissed skipper Tevin Imlach for five to reduce the Harpy Eagles to 20 for three.
It took a patient, dogged half century from opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and a counterattacking knock of 64 from Keemo Paul, along with supportive innings from Kemol Savory and Gudakesh Motie rescue them.
Chanderpaul scored 69 off 212 balls and first shared a 53-run partnership with Savory, who made 35, and then added a further 76 with Paul, who needed just 57 balls and smashed five fours and four sixes.
However, Cyrus and John returned to finish off the tail and snap up the Harpy Eagles’ last four wickets for the addition of only 17 runs.
John finished with 4-28 and Cyrus took 3-79, while Gilon Tyson claimed 2-40.
