T&T let Leewards off the hook

T&T’s bowlers squandered an excellent start before their top order suffered three early losses as the first day of their fifth round match against the bottom-ranked Leeward Islands ended with the teams evenly poised at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair yesterday. After four rounds of the Regional Four-Day Competition, T&T entered the match ranked second in the standings just three points shy of leaders Jamaica.  However, their first day performance fell well short of expectations and when play resumes this morning, they will be fighting for first innings points against a team which has suffered heavy defeats in each of its three completed matches.

The day began brightly for the hosts, who reduced the toss-winning Leewards to 131 for eight in the second session thanks in large part to disciplined bowling from spinners Imran Khan (14-5-27-3) and Amit Jaggernauth (21-9-48-2) and medium pacer Rayad Emrit (11-2-41-2).  Their momentum was unexpectedly interrupted when allrounder Justin Athanaze (27) and fast bowler Gavin Tonge (44) managed to put on 62 for the ninth wicket, helping the Leewards reach 211 all out in just under 73 overs.

T&T’s reply started badly when the out-of-form duo of opener Lendl Simmons (4) and number three Runako Morton (7) lost their wickets cheaply to opening bowlers Tonito Willett and Tonge respectively.
Simmons departed with the score on 13 and when Morton returned to the pavilion with T&T on 28 for two, the onus was on captain Daren Ganga to steady the ship. In a pivotal moment, Ganga, who took his guard with 360 runs under his belt in the tournament for just three times out, was trapped leg before to Willett for one, leaving T&T in peril at 30 for three. Opener Justin Guillen, who remained unbeaten on 25, and allrounder Sherwin Ganga (5 n.o.) saw off the remaining overs as T&T finished on 47 for three, still 164 runs behind on first innings.

Scoreboard

Leeward Islands 1st Innings
S Jeffers c D Ganga b Khan    23
S Peters c Ramdin b Khan    18
G Williams b Jaggernauth    19
S Liburd c Cariah b Khan    6
T Willet b Emrit    25
J Peters b Cariah    1
J Hamilton c D Ganga b Emrit    30
J Taylor c & b Jaggernauth    1
J Athanaze lbw Gabriel    27
G Tonge run out    44
A Martin not out    7
Extras    10
Total (all out, 72.4 overs)    211
Fall of Wickets: 1-37 (Jeffers), 2-50 (S Peters), 3-64 (Liburd), 4-82 (Williams), 5-85 (J Peters), 6-120 (Willet), 7-131 (Taylor), 8-131 (Hamilton), 9-193 (Athanaze), 10-211 (Tonge).
Bowling: Gabriel 6-0-34-1, Emrit 11-2-41-2, S Ganga 6.4-3-4-0, Khan 14-5-27-3, Jaggernauth 21-9-48-2, Cariah 14-2-52-1.

T&T 1st Innings
L Simmons c Taylor b Willet    4
J Guillen not out    25
R Morton b Tonge    7
D Ganga lbw Willet    1
S Ganga not out    5
Extras (b 2, lb 1, nb 1, w 1)    5
Total (3 wickets, 16 overs)    47

Still to Bat: I Khan, Y Cariah, D Ramdin, R Emrit, A Jaggernauth, S Gabriel.
Fall of Wickets: 1-13 (Simmons), 2-28 (Morton), 3-30 (D Ganga).
Bowling: Tonge 5-1-12-1, Willet 6-0-23-2, Athanaze 3-1-5-0, Martin 2-1-4-0.