Mind games at the Oval

T&T skipper Denesh Ramdin made a brilliant move yesterday afternoon when he declared his team’s first innings on the second day of the Headley/Weekes Regional 4-day clash, in an effort to keep his team in the game in terms bonus of points in this semi-final clash at the Queen’s Park Oval.

T&T replying to the Windwards first innings score of 246 struggled to get runs on the board and reached 140 for eight when, Ramdin called in his men. The Red Force had gotten three bowling points when Windwards batted and the visitors got a batting point. By declaring his team’s innings with eight wickets down, he denied the Windwards getting their full bonus points allocation of three. They instead got two points. It means that with no points given for first innings win and no bonus points allowed in the second innings, T&T and the Windwards have the same number of points in this game so far, which is three. T&T will now look to play for an outright and if this does not come by, they will be hoping for a draw with all the rain around. An outright or a draw will take them to the finals.

Under the tournament rules for the Headley/Weekes Trophy it states: ‘In the event of either match in the Headley/Weekes Trophy ending with two competing teams on the same number of points, the higher placed team will be the team with the most wins in the WICB President’s Trophy stage’.

In this case, T&T would advance to the finals by virtue of having won four matches in the President’s Trophy stage, as compared to three by the Windward Islands. 

The Windwards batting in their second innings reached 88 for two at the close, for an overall lead of 194 with eight wickets remaining. 

T&T will now have an uphill task of getting their desired result as they will have two days to negotiate. 

Rain did show up on five occasions yesterday, wiping out 162 minutes, which means play today and tomorrow will start at 9.30am instead of 10am.

Earlier, T&T resumed on the bedtime score of 36 for three and after just three overs the players had to scamper off the field as the heavens opened. On the resumption, overnight pair of Jason Mohammed and Evin Lewis got to work. Things were moving along nicely for T&T when umpire Nigel Duguid gave Mohammed out leg-before. Replays showed he right hander was struck outside the line off the off-stump by Kenroy Peters. He dejectedly trudged off for 19. 

Skipper Denesh Ramdin then came in and looked set for the long haul. The previous evening the right hander had taken to the nets with coach Kelvin Williams, working on his batting.

He and Lewis added 37 runs for the fifth wicket before Ramdin was the first of four men who would edge seamer Mervyn Mathew to the wicketkeeper. He made 25 from 60 balls and batted for one hour and seven minutes.

The right armer used the overcast conditions brilliantly to take his team into prime position. Rayad Emrit tried his best to inch T&T along as Lewis remained solid at the other end. Emrit scored 21 off 20 balls with four fours before he left and soon after the Red Force declared at 140 for eight. Lewis was left unbeaten on 47 off 126 balls in 203 minutes batting, hitting five fours and a six. 

Mathew the former West Indies under 19 player finished 4/19 to lead the pack for the Windwards.

​

SCOREBOARD

TT vs Windwards

Windwards 1st inns 246
TT 1st inns 
(36/3)

L Simmons c M Mathew b D Johnson    19
E Lewis not out    47
D Bravo c K Lesporis b D Johnson    0
M Richards c T Theophille b L Sebastien    2
J Mohammed lbw b K Peters    19
D Ramdin c Charles b Mathew    25
A Hosein c Charles b Mathew    0
R Emrit  c Charles b Mathew    21    
I Khan c Charles b Mathew    2
S Gabriel not out    6
Extras lb5    5
Total for 8 wkts dec    140
Fall of wkts:33, 33, 36, 67, 104, 104, 138, 140.
Bowling: N Pascal 5-0-26-0, D Johnson 10-2-44-2, K Peters 14--6-18-1, 
L Sebastien 10-2-28-1, M Mathew 8-4-19-4.

Windwards 2nd inns

D Smith not out    44
T Theophille lbw Emrit    11
J Charles c Hosein b Jaipaul    11
S Ambris not out    13
Extras 5lb, 4b    9
Total for 2 wkts    88
Fall of wkts: 45, 60.  
Bowling: S Gabriel 5-0-21-0, M Richards 4-1-8-0, L Simmons 1-0-2-0, R Emrit 5-0-23-1, R Jaipaul 6-0-18-1, I Khan 2-0-7-0.