Windies batsman Jason Mohammed rescued T&T Red Force yesterday with a century against the Jamaica Scorpions on the third day of their West Indies Four-day championship clash at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, San Fernando.
SCORES: T&T Red Force 389 & 282/9 versus Jamaica Scorpions 347.
With a first innings lead of 42 runs, Red Force found themselves in a spot of bother at 86 for five, before Mohammed's ninth First Class century bailed them out and took them to a very strong position of 282/9 - an overall lead of 324 with one wicket at the close. He scored an unbeaten 108 off 151 deliveries with eight fours and three sixes.
Five wickets from pacer Anderson Phillip saw Jamaica fall for 347 all out in the first session. T&T Red Force then lost early wickets as they looked to set a challenging target for the visitors. Opener Jeremy Solozano was the first to go with the score at 32. He fell prey to Nicholson Gordon, giving him his eight-wicket in the match. His dismissal saw a slide where T&T lost five wickets in the space of 54 runs. Part-timer Jermaine Blackwood with two wickets pushed T&T back. Also grabbing two wickets in that period was spinner Akim Fraser. He accounted for the dangerous Lendl Simmons and Joshua Da Silva.
Earlier, Scorpions resumed on the overnight position of 282 for six and gave
T&T a scare they moved nicely on to 324 for seven. Nkrumah Bonner was the batsman who was causing the T&T hearts to flutter, as he looked set to take the visitors beyond the T&T first innings score of 389.
At this point, T&T skipper Denesh Ramdin called for the new ball and handed it to pacer Anderson Phillip. The right-arm fast bowler responded to the call and ripped out the final three wickets for the addition of 23 runs as Scorpions fell for 347 - conceding a 42-run lead to Red Force. Bonner ended with 61 off 116 balls with 10 fours.
Anderson finished with his first five-wicket haul in First Class cricket, finishing with 5/74.