- Pride whip Scorpions; Volcanoes and Red Force locked in battle
Veteran left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul undermined the batting of front-runners Leeward Islands Hurricanes to leave four-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars eyeing a second straight victory for the season in the top-of-the-table clash at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
The teams are competing in round of Cricket West Indies’ Professional Cricket League Regional Four-day championship.
Elsewhere, experienced off-spinner Shane Shillingford followed up Roland Cato’s maiden first-class hundred with a destructive spell that left the contest between Windward Islands Volcanoes and Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, delicately poised.
And Miguel Cummins and Windies teammate Jomel Warrican bowled Barbados Pride to a stunning, come-from-behind, 41-run victory over Jamaica Scorpions.
Cummins and Warrican defied a lengthy stoppage for rain to share eight wickets and send the Scorpions crashing for their third lowest total ever.
SUMMARY: Hurricanes (182) & 130-7 vs Jaguars (289) in North Sound, Antigua
Permaul, opening the bowling, grabbed 5-49 from 24 overs and destroyed the Hurricanes’ top order to fortify the Jaguars’ hold on the contest.
After openers Keacy Carty and Montcin Hodge gave them a steady start, the Hurricanes batting collapsed from 40 without loss to 91-6.
Windies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, not out on 15, came to the crease and with fellow pacer Jeremiah Louis, not out on 17, batted through the final half-hour to stem the fall of wickets.
But the damage had already been done and the Jags tightened their grip, after a bit of lower order resistance extended their innings just past lunch, after they resumed from their overnight total of 215-5.
Vishaul Singh, not out on 68 overnight, finished with the top score of 90, Christopher Barnwell made 46 and Anthony Bramble got 25.
Off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall was the pick of the Hurricanes bowlers with 4-48 from 29 overs.
SUMMARY: Pride (167 & 187) beat Scorpions (248 & 65) by 41 runs in Cave Hill, Barbados
Chasing 107 for victory, Scorpions were dramatically bowled out in 18 overs, with no batsman reaching 20, and the match ended about 40 minutes before the scheduled close.
Cummins was the pick of the Pride bowlers, taking 4-19 from six overs, and Warrican grabbed 4-27 from nine overs to finish the match with figures of 12-116 to make him a shoo-in for the Player-of-the-Match award.
To add insult to injury, the match concluded in amusing fashion, when Jermaine Levy failed to beat a direct hit – from bowler Cummins – at the striker’s end and was run out for a duck, going for a single and got a token response from fellow tail-ender Reynard Leveridge.
It was a stunning reversal in the match which the Scorpions practically controlled from the start and seemed destined to win, after the home team, resuming from their overnight total of 93 for three in their second innings, were dismissed on the stroke of lunch today.
Opener Shayne Moseley hit the top score of 48 for the Pride, Aaron Jones made 36 and Hayden Walsh, Jr added 31, but the home team’s batting was again undermined by Nikita Miller
The veteran Scorpions left-arm spinner snared 6-76 from 37 overs, ending with match figures of 10-129, and fellow left-arm spinner Dennis Bulli took 3-41 from 12.4 overs.
SUMMARY: Volcanoes (206 & 288) vs Red Force (225) & 133-7 in Tarouba, Trinidad
Shillingford snapped up 3-50 from 21 overs and wrecked the Red Force’s top order batting to fortify the Volcanoes’ bid for victory.
The lanky off-spinner trapped Red Force first innings century-maker Jeremy Solozano lbw for 10 with the last ball of his first over – the seventh of the innings – before Windies Test batsman Kyle Hope fell in similar fashion for 28 and left-hander Amir Jangoo was caught at slip for 26 to leave the hosts 65 for three.
Red Force passed the 100-mark, but lost Jason Mohammed and Yannic Cariah along the way, but Tion Webster, not out on six, came to the crease and with rookie wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva, not out on 27, batted through an hour to the close in a Red Force bid for survival.
Cato followed up Solozano and became the second century-maker in the match to pave the way for a strong second innings show from the Volcanoes.
The former Windward Islands Under-19 captain ended with 11 fours and two sixes in a sparkling 103 from 216 balls in four hours of batting before he was lbw to leg-spinner Bryan Charles to leave Volcanoes 217 for three.
The visitors however, failed to find stability from the rest of the batting and they lost their last seven wickets for 71 in 139 deliveries. (CWI)
