ST JOHN’S, An­tigua – A 12th first-class ca­reer hun­dred for Trinidad & To­ba­go Red Force from long-stand­ing bats­man Ja­son Mo­hammed, and a de­struc­tive spell from Wind­ward Is­lands Vol­ca­noes pac­er Ryan John marked the start of the West In­dies Cham­pi­onship on Wednes­day.

Mo­hammed was un­de­feat­ed on ex­act­ly 100 and Tion Web­ster sup­port­ed with an even 50, and Red Force reached 215 for four in their first in­nings against de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Guyana Harpy Ea­gles when bad light stopped play ear­ly on the first day of their first-round match in St Kitts.

John snared five for 43 from 13 overs, and fel­low for­mer West In­dies Un­der-19 World Cup-win­ning all-rounder Shamar Springer grabbed three for 53 from 10 overs, and Vol­ca­noes dis­missed hosts Ja­maica Scor­pi­ons for 159 in their first in­nings be­fore they reached 157 for two in re­ply when stumps were drawn.

For­mer West In­dies Un­der-19 pac­er Joshua James helped Crick­et West In­dies Acad­e­my make a strong en­try in­to the tour­na­ment when they bowled out hosts Lee­ward Is­lands Hur­ri­canes for 137 in their first in­nings be­fore re­ply­ing with 60 for two be­fore bad light stopped play in their con­test in St Kitts.

And, there was no play be­tween Com­bined Cam­pus­es & Col­leges Ma­roon­ers and Bar­ba­dos Pride in Ja­maica be­cause of a wet out­field.

AT CONA­REE CRICK­ET CEN­TRE: Mo­hammed struck 10 fours from 224 balls and shared 115 for the fourth wick­et with Web­ster to sta­bilise Red Force af­ter they stum­bled to 88 for three in­side the first hour af­ter lunch.

Web­ster cracked four fours and one six from 95 balls be­fore he was caught at short mid-wick­et off left-arm spin bowl­ing stal­wart Veerasam­my Per­maul about half-hour be­fore the um­pires of­fered the bats­men light with the Harpy Ea­gles on­ly get­ting two de­liv­er­ies with the sec­ond new ball.

Red Force were set back ear­ly af­ter they chose to bat when pac­er Rons­ford Beat­on got open­er Cephas Coop­er caught be­hind for eight in the eighth over, and open­er Vikash Mo­han was forced to re­tire hurt on 14 in the next over when a de­liv­ery from pac­er Ronal­do Al­imo­hamed bounced awk­ward­ly and struck him on the fore­arm.

Red Force were 24 for one, and they were 32 for two when Jyd Goolie was lbw for three play­ing across a full-length de­liv­ery from Beat­on, who end­ed the day with two for 39 from 12 overs.

Amir Jan­goo, a for­mer Hur­ri­canes wick­et­keep­er-bats­man, came to the wick­et and with Mo­hammed car­ried Red Force to 58 for two at lunch.

The pair car­ried on smart­ly af­ter the in­ter­val and com­plet­ed a 56-run, third wick­et stand be­fore Jan­goo turned a de­liv­ery from Per­maul straight to for­ward short leg and was caught for 27.

Web­ster joined Mo­hammed and they took the sting out of the Harpy Ea­gles at­tack ei­ther side of car­ry­ing Red Force to tea on 170 for three.

Af­ter the break, they guid­ed Red Force past 200 be­fore Per­maul, the most suc­cess­ful bowler in the his­to­ry of the Cham­pi­onship, re­moved Web­ster to end the day with a miser­ly two for 40 from 25 overs.

AT SABI­NA PARK: Dis­card­ed West In­dies pac­er Sher­mon Lewis gave Vol­ca­noes ear­ly suc­cess when he spec­tac­u­lar­ly bowled Chad­wick Wal­ton for four in the fourth over of the day, and John fol­lowed up with the scalp of West In­dies Test bats­man Kirk McKen­zie al­so bowled for 10 of­fer­ing no stroke.

Scor­pi­ons were 26 for two, and Springer struck with his first de­liv­ery when he got dis­card­ed West In­dies bats­man Nkrumah Bon­ner caught be­hind down the leg-side for one.

John tight­ened the Vol­ca­noes’ grip when he bowled dis­card­ed West In­dies bat­ting stal­wart Jer­maine Black­wood for 14, and Scor­pi­ons were reel­ing on 45 for five in­side the first hour when Springer got open­er Car­los Brown caught be­hind for eight.

Ro­maine Mor­ris, whose 35 was the top score, came to the crease and with Abi­jhai Mans­ingh car­ried Scor­pi­ons to 74 for five at lunch, and the pair com­plet­ed a 53-run, sixth wick­et stand af­ter the in­ter­val.

The stand was bro­ken when Mor­ris was run out in a mix-up with Mans­ingh be­fore John re­turned to send the in­nings in­to ter­mi­nal de­cline, tak­ing three of the last four Scor­pi­ons wick­ets that fell for 61 in the span of 67 balls.

Vol­ca­noes cap­tain Ki­mani Melius, a for­mer West In­dies Un­der-19 cap­tain, hit 31 and got Vol­ca­noes off to a con­fi­dent start be­fore he was caught at mid-on off Mans­ingh’s leg-spin play­ing an ug­ly cross-bat­ted shot.

Trinida­di­an fel­low open­er Je­re­my Solozano made 26 and car­ried Vol­ca­noes past 100 in a sec­ond wick­et stand of 56 with fel­low left-han­der Jo­hann Je­re­mi­ah be­fore off-spin­ner Peat Salmon bowled him when he charged down the pitch, missed an on-dri­ve, and the ball ric­o­cheted off his pads on­to the stumps.

Je­re­mi­ah, not out on 66, and the ever­green Sunil Am­bris, not out on 30, bat­ted through the re­main­ing hour-and-a-quar­ter to take Vol­ca­noes with­in reach of tak­ing a first in­nings lead.

AT WARN­ER PARK: James end­ed with three for 11 from sev­en overs to lead the Acad­e­my de­mo­li­tion of the Hur­ri­canes bat­ting af­ter the hosts were put in to bat.

Off-spin­ner Ash­mead Nedd, pac­er Jo­hann Layne, and pace bowl­ing cap­tain Ny­eem Young fin­ished with two wick­ets apiece to com­plete the de­mo­li­tion job.

All-rounder Je­re­mi­ah Louis, bat­ting at eight, propped up the Hur­ri­canes with a top score of 45, Ter­ence Warde made 28, and Jah­mar Hamil­ton added 22.

Mbe­ki Joseph, not out on 30, and for­mer West In­dies Un­der-19 cap­tain Ac­k­eem Au­guste, not out on 15, were pulling the Acad­e­my out of an ear­ly hole when bad light stopped play, af­ter they lost the Bar­ba­di­an open­ing pair of left-han­der Rashawn Wor­rell and Kadeem Al­leyne cheap­ly.

AT CHED­WIN PARK: A rup­tured wa­ter main soaked the out­field and meant the Ma­roon­ers and Pride lost an en­tire day.

It is the first time in 13 years that the venue is stag­ing a first-class match, and it was not an in­aus­pi­cious way to her­ald its re-en­try.

The two teams hung around un­til about 2 p.m. be­fore leav­ing, and they have been re­as­sured that the is­sue has been fixed and play will start prompt­ly on the sched­uled sec­ond day bar­ring a se­vere weath­er in­ter­rup­tion or an­oth­er force ma­jeure.

CMC

SUM­MARISED SCORES

At Cona­ree Crick­et Cen­tre in Bas­seterre, St Kitts:

TRINIDAD & TO­BA­GO RED FORCE 215 for four (Ja­son Mo­hammed 100 not out, Tion Web­ster 50, Amir Jan­goo 27, Vikash Mo­han 20 not out; Rons­ford Beat­on 2-39, Veerasam­my Per­maul 2-42) vs GUYANA HARPY EA­GLES.

At Warn­er Park in Bas­seterre, St Kitts:

LEE­WARD IS­LANDS HUR­RI­CANES 137 (Je­re­mi­ah Louis 45, Ter­ence Warde 28, Jah­mar Hamil­ton 22; Joshua James 3-11, Ash­mead Nedd 2-3, Jo­hann Layne 2-18, Ny­eem Young 2-52).

CRICK­ET WEST IN­DIES ACAD­E­MY 60 for two (Mbe­ki Joseph 30 not out).

At Ched­win Park in Span­ish Town, Ja­maica:

COM­BINED CAM­PUS­ES & COL­LEGES MA­ROON­ERS vs BAR­BA­DOS PRIDE – No play due to a wet out­field caused by a rup­tured wa­ter main.

At Sabi­na Park in Kingston, Ja­maica:

JA­MAICA SCOR­PI­ONS 159 (Ro­maine Mor­ris 35, Peat Salmon 26; Ryan John 13-0-43-5, Shamar Springer 3-53).

WIND­WARD IS­LANDS VOL­CA­NOES 157 for two (Jo­hann Je­re­mi­ah 66 not out, Ki­mani Melius 31, Sunil Am­bris 30 not out, Je­re­my Solozano 26).