T&T may look towards its spinners again in the third round of the West Indies Cricket Board Regional four-day tournament against the Leeward Islands, which bowls off today at 3 pm at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain.
Led by Akeal Hosein, T&T's spin bowlers grabbed 16 of the 20 wickets against the Windward Islands in the last round to romp to a 186-run win at the Queen's Park Oval. The Windwards had no answers to the T&T spin, as Hosein, a left-arm spinner, finished the match with figures of 11/67. Imran Khan and Jason Mohammed also got in on the action. Mohammed took two wickets in the first innings, while Khan snatched three wickets at the end of the Windwards second innings to complete the demolition job.
T&T will be hoping that the top order, which looked fragile against the Windwards, final comes good. In the first innings, T&T was restricted to 17/2, and then 8/2 in the second but solid batting from the middle and tail, ensured a competitive score.
Yannic Cariah, Marlon Richards and captain Rayad Emrit all contributed valuable runs at the end of the batting line up, although the contributions of Jason Mohammed and Darren Bravo, who both struck half centuries, could not be under estimated.
In the first innings T&T was 153/7 at one stage, but a 51-run partnership between Cariah and Emrit took the score past 200. Cariah made 24, while Emrit scored 28 to guide T&T to 222. Cariah (49) showed determination again in the second innings, sharing in a 42-run ninth wicket partnership with Richards (21).
The Leeward Islands, captained by West Indian opener Kieran Powell, is coming off a narrow three-wicket loss to Jamaica in the last round at Warner Park, St Kitts. Powell led from the front with the bat, scoring 91 and 86 in the match. Also performing in the last round for the Leewards was former West Indies spin bowler Anthony Martin, who took six wickets in the match.
SQUADS
T&T: Rayad Emrit (captain) Adrian Barath, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Jason Mohammed, Steven Katwaroo, Imran Khan, Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein, Marlon Richards, Shannon Gabriel, Jonathan Augustus, Kavesh Kantasingh
Leeward Islands: Kieran Powell (captain), Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Alzarri Joseph, Sylvester Joseph, Anthony Martin, Mali Richards, Akeem Saunders, Devon Thomas, Gavin Tonge, Hayden Walsh Jr, Kelbert Walters, Tonito Willett
STANDINGS
Team M W L D Pts
Jamaica 2 2 0 0 35
Leewards 2 1 1 0 20
Windwards 2 1 1 0 20
Barbados 2 1 1 0 19
T&T 1 1 0 0 16
Guyana 2 0 2 0 6
CCC 1 0 1 0 4