Windies ‘B’ hit back at Balmain

Trinidad and Tobago were reeling at 24 for three wickets yesterday in reply to the West Indies “B” team’s first innings score of 238 at the end of the  opening day of the second round Carib Beer Series regional cricket clash at the National Cricket Centre, Couva. Scores: West Indies B 238 versus TT 24/3.

After off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth had grabbed four wickets and pacer Ryad Emrit picked three to rock West Indies reserves for 238 on a good batting wicket, the appreciable crowd on hand must have harboured hopes of seeing a solid reply by the home team. However pacer Jason Bennett had other ideas, grabbing two wickets to leave Trinidad and Tobago precariously placed, still 214 runs behind. The first wicket to fall to the bustling Bennett was the in-form Trinidad and Tobago skipper Imran Jan. The left hander was brilliantly caught low down by Assad Fudadain at gully for five. This dismissal let in Kenton Thompson and he had the unfortunate distinction of being dismissed with his first ball in First Class cricket. Thompson played back to Bennett and was unlucky to have been given out leg before wicket struck high on the thigh pad.

At five for two wickets, things looked as if  it couldn’t get worse for Trinidad and Tobago but it did. Solid opener Tishan Maraj who looked untroubled was run out for seven leaving the hosts tottering on 18 for three. Just at the close brought on early by bad light, Dwayne Bravo played a beautifully square drive to soothe the aching hearts of local cricket aficionados who would return today hoping to see a spirited fight back. Manager Omar Khan said the players didn’t play to plan causing the position in which the team now finds itself. “They were instructed to go out there and face 11 overs safely to the close, however they didn’t stick to the plan and this is the result. We have a lot of talent in the batting line-up and we are going to get to the first innings score. “I thought that our bowlers didn’t really bowl well. The fast bowlers were not aggressive enough and  the spinners did not loop the ball as they should. We were however able to fight back from 99 for one and for this I must commend the team,” he said.

Trinidad and Tobago won the toss and inserted the West Indies “B” on a good batting wicket with early moisture. The first breakthrough came via the run out rout when opener Jason Haynes fell for a duck with the score at two. Trinidadian Lendl Simmons joined the impressive Ryan Ramdass and they took  the score nicely along to 84 for one at the lunch break. Simmons was in imperious form and reached 59 when disaster struck soon after the break. The right hander was run out for 59 that came in 85 balls with the help of six fours. He spent 116 minutes at the wicket defying the local bowlers who threw everything at him. Danza Hyatt joined Ramdass who had brought up his half-century in the meantime off 94 balls with three fours in 178 minutes of batting. Together they added 47 runs for the third wicket when off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth got into the show.  The talented Jaggernauth grabbed the next three wickets in the space of 27 runs much to he delight of the central fans, packed in to support him.

At the other end Jaggernauth found an able ally in Ryad Emrit and he took the next three wickets to fall for the addition off only 13 runs. Among his victims was the Guyanese Ramdass who fell agonisingly close to his first hundred. The right hander who had received rave reviews from his fellow Guyanese player Shivnarine Chanderpaul, spooned a catch to mid-off with his score at 91. After this there was a last wicket resistance of 34 between Anderson Sealy 26 not out and Dwight Washington 15 but it came to an end when the latter was run out. Jaggernauth finished with four for 76, while Emrit took three for 39. Play on the second day today starts at 9.44 am in order to make up for the overs lost yesterday.