South on top in Gerry Gomez classic

South held the upper hand against North at the close of the second day of the 2003/2004 Pizza Hut Gerry Gomez Cricket Classic at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain yesterday.

SCORES: South 278 & 62/1 vs North 135.

With a first innings total of 278, South bowlers ravaged the Northern batting line-up bundling  them out for just 135 and in the process securing a first innings lead of 143 runs. By the close they had extended that lead to 205 runs, ending on 62 for one. Tishan Maraj, 18 not out, will resume batting with the solid Kenton Thompson, undefeated on 30, this morning.

After taking the final South wicket very early on the second morning yesterday, North would have fancied their chance of overhauling their score. However Marlon Black and spinners Amit Jaggernauth and Devindra Krishna had other ideas, as they routed North for just 135 after tea. Black started the rout by dismissing opener Imran Jan for a duck with the scoreboard yet to be disturbed. Fourteen runs later he removed Earnil Ryan also for duck and from this point South advanced nicely.

Dwayne Bravo looked ominous for a little period until the left arm spin of Krishna accounted for him with the score at 47. His personal contribution was 24. A lot depended on Ricardo Powell and he came up with a cameo 33 but it wasn’t enough. The classy Aneil Kanhai batted with grit in making an identical 33 but that was the best effort. Black ended the innings with three for 23, while Krishna took two for 15 and the talented Amit Jaggernauth had similar figures. With a lead of 143 runs South lost opener Sherwin Ganga for two but the Clarke Road pair of Tishan Maraj and Kenton Thompson batted South to safety at the close.