Naz Ya­coob

Ti­tle-chas­ing Ce­ram­ic Mer­ry Boys Sports, led by a work­man­like cen­tu­ry yes­ter­day, from out-favour Bar­ba­dos na­tion­al team mid­dle-or­der bats­man, Al­cin­do Hold­er, stayed on course for an­oth­er out­right win in the T&T Crick­et Board's Pre­mier­ship League. On the open­ing day of the cru­cial Round Three con­test at Ser­pen­tine Road, Hold­er notched 102, to guide lead­ers Mer­ry Boys to a com­pet­i­tive 303 for five de­clared against new­com­ers Ra­hamut's Ever­green Sports. Hold­er smashed six fours and three six­es in his in­nings which spanned 181 min­utes and re­ceived ad­mirable sup­port from the im­pres­sive Clifton Halls who con­tributed a busi­nesslike 67 which in­clud­ed six fours and a six in 218 min­utes. Al­so among the runs was T&T all-rounder Richard Kel­ly who made an un­beat­en 52. Lead­ing bowler for the op­po­si­tion was pac­er Chris­t­ian Sookans­ingh who cap­tured all five wick­ets to fall for 90 runs. In re­ply, the vis­i­tors from Pluck Road in Fyz­abad were bun­dled out for 78, with skip­per Aneil Kan­hai again among the wick­ets with four for 27.

At Pierre Road Recre­ation Ground in Char­lieville, T&T U-19 right-arm leg-spin and goo­gly bowler Kissoon­dath Ma­gram cap­tured an­oth­er five-wick­et-haul in the se­ries. The 17-year-old Ma­gram bagged six for 62 for Ale­scon Comets to help dis­miss FC Clarke Road Unit­ed for a mod­est 231. Top re­gion­al all-rounder in 2010, Im­ran Khan had two for 38. Bat­ting for Clarke Road, for­mer T&T and West In­dies Un­der-15 cap­tain, Tis­han Maraj who made 69. In re­ply, Comets were strug­gling on 166 for nine. Khan made 42, while vet­er­an off-spin­ner Mukesh Per­sad had four for 53 for Clarke Road. Al­so among the wick­ets was St Lu­cian-all­rounder Gary Math­urin who grabbed sev­en for 52 for Tile De­pot Cen­tral Sports against Cli­co Preysal Sports at In­vaders Ground in Fe­lic­i­ty. Preysal Sports opt­ing for first strike failed to come to terms with the prob­ing left-arm spin of Math­urin and fold­ed for 207.

On­ly Eng­lish­man Michael Browne, who plays with Sur­rey in the Coun­ty Cham­pi­onships, of­fered re­sis­tance with a fight­ing in­nings of 86, which came in 204 min­utes off 215 balls with ten fours and a six. In re­ply, Cen­tral Sports reached 84 for five. There were two wick­ets for T&T pac­er Shan­non Gabriel (2-23) and for­mer West In­dies youth left-arm spin­ner Davin­dra Kr­ish­na (2-23). At Gilbert Park in Cal­i­for­nia, Queen's Park with half-cen­turies from skip­per Justin Guillen (93) and na­tion­al off-spin­ner Sunil Nar­ine (77) tal­lied an im­pres­sive 282 against low­ly-rat­ed W Con­nec­tion Wan­der­ers, who in re­ply closed on 173 for nine. And at Syne Vil­lage in Pe­nal, ti­tle-hold­ing Pow­er­Gen were clos­ing in on first in­nings points against UTT. Chas­ing 199 for the lead, Pow­er­Gen end­ed on 141 for three, with Ron­dell Ram­lochan un­beat­en on 74 and Akiel Coop­er 41 not out. Fi­nal day's play start 9.30 am.