Windwards put skids on TT

Injudicious and reckless stokeplay left Trinidad and Tobago struggling yesterday against a buoyant and confident Windward Islands on the second day of the Carib Beer Series regional seventh round cricket match at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre. The homesters  found themselves battling to save face but avoided being asked to follow-on (197 runs) when they reached 219 for eight wickets at the pre-mature closure in fading light with five overs remaining in the overall day’s play.

It was sensible batting of  West Indies youth players Denesh Ramdin (38 not out) and Rishi Bachan (nine not out) which carried TT beyond the follow-on target. Earlier fans were embarrassed to witness four WI players, including skipper Daren Ganga (19), Lendl Simmons (43), Ricardo Powell (17) and Dwayne Bravo (22) gifting their wickets away with ill-advised strokes. It is instructive that Joey Carew, the current convenor of the West Indies Cricket Board selection panel, was among the small gathering at Guaracara Park. However, it was not all doom and gloom about yesterday’s play.

Richard Kelly, who celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday, was Trinidad and Tobago’s bowling hero on Friday and the focus switched to Windwards debutant pacer Jean Paul who used his  probing line, length, accuracy and subtle variations of  swing to telling effect. The right-armed Paul captured four wickets while his skipper Rawl Lewis showed much faith and supported him with ultra-attacking fields, sometimes with four slips in position. Overnight batsmen Deighton Butler (35) and Shane Shillingford (1) prospered against ill-directed bowling and added 54 runs for their ninth wicket partnership before Rayad Emrit had Butler brilliantly caught on the square point boundary by Bravo for a delightful 66. His innings was embellished with 13 sparkling fours off 91 balls.

During his 136 minutes batting he had featured in two half-century partnerships which is a lesson for all frontline batsmen. Emrit nailed Kenroy Peters (LBW for nought) and finished with three wickets for 55 runs off 16 overs. TT’s openers Lendl Simmons and Imran Khan never appeared confident in their strokeplay or selection and debutant Paul scalped Khan with a quicker delivery. Skipper Ganga started in confident fashion and together with Simmons carried the score from 30 to 83, a 53-run second wicket partnership. Then off-spinner Shane Shillingford induced a false stroke from the Trinidadian captain (19), who was bowled leg stump from one that spun and bounced.

Simmons followed eight runs later, outfoxed by Lewis, as he pulled across the flight of the leg spinning delivery and into the hands of Jean Paul. He struck six fours off 106 balls. The Windwards captain kept the pressure on the over-confident Powell (17) and Bravo (22) and made both to look like novices as they danced down the track, only to see substitute wicketkeeper LaFuille whipping off the bails. They had much more to celebrate when Paul, in an inspired spell of seam bowling, removed birthday boy Kelly (LBW for 16), Emrit (bowled for 5) and Mervyn Dillon (bowled for 9). The only moments of joy for the few loyal supporters was the confident and authoritative batting of Ramdin and Bachan who fashioned an unbroken ninth wicket partnership worth 28 runs already. Ramdin has batted for 110 minutes and smashed four fours off 63 balls while Bachan struck two well-timed fours in his short innings.