Windwards take upper hand at Shaw Park

WINDWARD ISLANDS, by dint of a five-wicket haul by captain Rawl Lewis, a gutsy 32 from fellow West Indies batsman Devon Smith and the generosity of the Trinidad and Tobago fieldsmen, claimed the upper hand on the penultimate day of their Carib Beer Cricket Series seventh round match at Shaw Park, Scarborough, yesterday. After dismissing Trinidad and Tobago for 162 runs, the Windwards will resume today on 77  for five wickets, an overall lead of 133 with Darren Sammy unbeaten on 16 and nightwatchman Kenroy Peters on nought. Smith who received a number of playful taunts by WI teammate Dwayne Bravo, was put down by another WI standout Denesh Ramdin when on ten, as the wicketkeeper failed to collect a thick edge off Rayad Emrit.

Next over, fellow opener Rommel Currency (two) edged a flat-footed drive off Richard Kelly to Lendl Simmons at first slip. Smith notoriously strong on the off-side, was again dropped behind the wicket, this time by Amit Jaggernauth at second slip off Bravo when on 18. Meanwhile, Dave Mohammed snapped up two quick victims, having the unimpressive Craig Emmanuel stumped for 11 and Hyron Shallow (four) top-edging a pull to the keeper. Mohammed could have snared his third scalp but Sammy, caught in two minds, saw his edge, via Ramdin, spilled by Bravo at slip. Further misery followed Mohammed in his subsequent over when Sammy lofted an on-drive to Simmons at deep mid-on, and to the shock of his teammates and the batsman, dropped the sitter.

Smith held firm for two-and-a-half hours before inexplicably cutting Emrit to Daren Ganga at gully, while Junior Murray (ten), moments after watching his aerial off-drive go through Kelly’s hands running back at mid-on, attempted a similar shot and was stumped. While the Trinidad and Tobago fielders had difficulties during the afternoon session, the Windwards were the complete opposite as all the TT batsmen were out caught. Starting the day on 36 for four, Trinidad and Tobago added 14 before losing Sherwin Ganga for eight, edging Sammy to wicketkeeper Murray. The lanky pacer, as well as the left-arm pair of Deighton Butler and Kenroy Peters, subdued the scoring with tight, accurate bowling while, on the other hand, spinners Lewis (leg) and Denis George (left-arm) were inconsistent in their direction, while Lewis showed no signs of curbing his long-standing no-ball worries.

Gregory Mahabir and Kelly each lasted for over an hour but neither batsman looked convincing, and provided catches on either side of the luncheon interval to Murray. Mahabir got an inside edge to the 37-year-old keeper for 16 while Kelly, after he was dropped off George at deep mid-off by Peters when he was on one, nicked Peters to the ex-West Indies gloveman for 27. Ramdin and Kelly shared a crucial seventh wicket partnership of 52 while the TT vice-captain, struggling to come to terms with his strokeplay on the heavy outfield, ended his four-hour long innings in a lax manner, pulling off-spinner Liam Sebastien’s first delivery, an aimless long hop, straight to Currency on the mid-wicket boundary.

Lewis ensured that there would be no tail-ender resistance, as Mohammed sliced a cover-drive to a diving George for three while Emrit lofted the leg-spinner straight to Emmanuel at mid-on for six. Trinidad and Tobago’s day was summed up with a bizarre moment when the score was on 159. Emrit skied a ball from Lewis to long-on and, thinking the ball would roll over the boundary line, did not bother to take a run. With his partner Jaggernauth already grounded at the non-striker end, Emmanuel retrieved the ball well beyond the line and calmly returned it to Lewis, to the amazement of the batsmen and the supporters on hand.