Ceramic Merry Boys, led by another match-winning bowling performance from skipper Aniel Kanhai, maintained their unbeaten run in the T&T Cricket Board Premiership Division, with a crushing innings and 103-run win against Rahamut's Evergreen Sports, in Round Three yesterday, at Serpentine Road. Kanhai ended with a match-haul of seven for 59, as the visitors had no answer to his probing off-spinners. It was a hat-trick of wins in the series for the "Patna Boys" and pushed their tally of points in the tournament to 78. In arrears by 225 on first innings, captain Kanhai enforced the follow-on, a move that paid rich dividends as the visitors from Pluck Road in Fyzabad were skittled out for a paltry 122. Only Steven Jacobs offered resistance with 68 against the pace and spin attack employed by Kanhai.
Top bowler for Merry Boys was Kanhai with three for 32 and he received good support from Kyron Lynch (2-7), Kenton Thompson (2-8) and Kervon Christmas (2-26) with two wickets apiece. Also recording an outright win was Queen's Park Cricket Club, who trounced the ill-fated W Connection Wanderers team by 239-run at Gilbert Park in California. After they dismissed the homesters for 187, the 'Parkites' led by an unbeaten 105 from T&T Under-19 opening batsman Nicholas Alexis and 84 not out by former national youth player Marlon Barclay, declared at 220 for one. Alexis batted for 156 minutes and struck nine fours and two sixes,while Barclay hit five fours and a six in his knock which lasted 122 minutes. Set a victory target of 316, the David John-Williams charges were routed for 76.
Leading the charge for Queen's Park were 21-year-old Barbados fast bowler Carlos Braithwaite who bagged five for 30 and medium-pacer Kervon Cooper five for 42. The "Parkites" collected 29 points from the encounter, while Wanderers picked up a miserly five. At Syne Village in Penal, defending champions PowerGen Sports gave an inspired performance to register a seven-wicket win against UTT. The remaining two matches ended in stalemates. At the Invaders Ground in Felicity, Guyanese-born Troy Cornelius lashed an unbeaten 106 to lead Tile Depot Central Sports to first innings points against Clico Preysal Sports. Cornelius had nine fours and a six in his stay of 288 minutes at the crease, as Central Sports going at Preysal's modest first innings total of 207 were dismissed for 250. Batting a second time, Preysal declared at 103 for six, when the game was called off.
STANDINGS AFTER THREE ROUNDS
Merry Boys 78 pts,
PowerGen 59,
Queen's Park 50,
Comets 43,
Clarke Road 40,
Central Sports 39,
Preysal 31,
Evergreen 23,
UTT 20,
Wanderers 19.
