TT inch closer to victory

Chasing 412 runs to win, Barbados were 112 for six in their second innings when bad light stopped play six overs early at the Carlton Sports Club.

Dave Mohammed snared three wickets for 21 runs from 10 overs in the 50 minutes before the umpires picked bails, Mervyn Dillon collected two early scalps, and Amit Jaggernauth added another to put the Barbadians on the back-foot.

Ryan Hinds’ 32, Dale Richards’ 31, and Wayne Blackman’s 25 have been Barbados’ best efforts with the bat.

TT, leading by 92 runs on first innings, had been dismissed for 319 in their second innings about 45 minutes after the lunch interval. Opening batsman Lendl Simmons hit his second First-Class hundred of 115 to top score for the visitors, TT captain Daren Ganga retired hurt for 59, and batting superstar Brian Lara scored 47 at better than a run-a-ball. Fidel Edwards was the most successful Barbados bowler with four for 56 from 11 overs, and Ryan Austin took three for 64 from 14.2 overs of off-spin.

Barbados though, appeared to be making a fight of it, when Richards batted for almost an hour to share 41 for the first wicket.

Dillon however, made the breakthrough when he had Richards adjudged leg before wicket for 31 playing across a full length delivery, and in his next over added the scalp of Kurt Wilkinson brilliantly caught at mid-off by a flying Richard Kelly for a duck.

Barbados captain Ryan Hinds came to the wicket and with Blackman carried Barbados to 41 for two at tea.

The two consolidated Barbados’ position with a partnership of 45 for the third wicket, after rain delayed the resumption after the break by almost half-hour. Blackman had dropped anchor and looked solid enough until he played back to a googly from Mohammed and was adjudged LBW after about an hour. The most controversial moment of the match however, was just around the corner, when Hinds, moving down the pitch to loft a delivery from Mohammed, was deceived by the flight and was dubiously adjudged LBW by Barbadian umpire Tunley Franklyn.

Two more wickets fell in the space of seven balls, when Alcindo Holder was caught at square cover for eight advancing and unleashing an ill-advised almighty heave, and Patrick Browne was neatly caught behind off Jaggernauth for a duck. Earlier, the runs continued to flow for TT, after they resumed from their bedtime position of 145 for one.

Simmons and Ganga continued to score runs as they pleased, with the younger batsman arriving at his landmark with a single on a misfield by the mid-wicket fielder. The pair added 122 for the second wicket before Simmons was caught at backward square leg top-edging a sweep after batting for just over three hours, facing 151 balls and striking 14 boundaries. Lara arrived and was simply Lara, adding 72 with Ganga for the third wicket in the last 45 minutes before lunch. He struck half-dozen fours and a couple of sixes— one over the pavilion at square leg off Austin, the other over long-on off Ryan Nurse— from 31 balls before he was caught inside the deep mid wicket boundary. Ganga, who had been struck on his forearm by Edwards, retired hurt during lunch, and was whisked away for a precautionary X-ray that did not contain bad news.

His absence energised the Barbadians, and they removed the last six TT wickets for 32 runs in the space of 4.2 overs. None of them scored more than 10, but the lead was significant enough then, not to bother too much. No team has scored more than 400 runs to win a regional First-Class match. The Windwards have come closest, scoring 371 to defeat the same TT by two wickets more than two decades at Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. Victory would draw TT level with Barbados on 36 points, and unless Guyana can defeat Windward Islands in Grenada to force a three-way tie, the Trinis would finally be able to get the monkey off their backs. TT last won the regional First-Class title in 1985 under former West Indies off-spin bowler Rangy Nanan.