TAROUBA – Spin bowling triumvirate Jomel Warrican, Hayden Walsh Jr and Kenroy Williams reversed decades of heartaches for Barbados Pride batsmen when they bowled their team to a 207-run victory over Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the Digicel Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day Championship yesterday.
Left-arm spinner Warrican was the most impactful, grabbing three for 13 from 12 overs to finish with match figures of nine for 84 to earn the Man-of-the-Match award. The Red Force, chasing 324 for victory, were bowled out for 116 just before tea on the final day of their seventh round match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Leg-spinner Walsh took three for 41 from 14 overs, and Williams bagged three for 46 from 21.5 overs and had the privilege of formalising the result when he had Bryan Charles caught at slip for 13.
Red Force captain Denesh Ramdin was again the glue that held his side together, but he was unable to unleash another hundred like the first innings, but hit the top score of 24. No other batsman passed 20.
The result meant that Pride – after starting the match placed fifth in the league table with 56.8 points – earned 16.4 points and Red Force – after entering the match positioned third with 67.6 points – gained six points.
Earlier, Pride added 33 to their overnight total at a little under a run-a-ball before they declared their second innings on 221 for seven.
Neither overnight batsman was dismissed – West Indies 2016 Under-19 World Cup-winning all-rounder Shamar Springer finished with the top score of an unbeaten 51 from his overnight 38 and wicketkeeper/batsman Mario Rampersaud, who resumed on eight, remained not out on 26.
Pride batsmen of past generations would recall the fierce battles they endured with the spin bowlers of Red Force in typically helpful conditions – suffering terribly at the hands of the likes of Ranjie Nanan, Rajindra Dhanraj, Raphick Jumadeen, Imtiaz Ali and others.
This victory must have been a source of delight for the current crop of Pride, considering that the spinners collected all nine wickets that fell in the second innings, in addition to eight in the first innings.
The slide to defeat for Red Force started when Williams removed left-handed opener Amir Jangoo to the first of five lbw decisions in the innings.
Before they knew it, Red Force were 51 for five, and though Ramdin and veteran Imran Khan shared 31 for the sixth wicket, it would have required a far greater effort which never came.
Elsewhere, Guyana Jaguars romped to their fifth win in seven outings when they crushed Leeward Islands Hurricanes by ten wickets on the third day of their day/night contest at the Guyana National Stadium on Saturday night.
They restricted Hurricanes to 149 in their first innings after the visitors resumed on 114 for nine. After enforcing the follow-on of 268, Jaguars then dismissed Hurricanes for the same score, before taking four balls to knock off the single run required for victory.
At the Darren Sammy Stadium, Windward Islands Volcanoes needed just over an hour yesterday to beat Jamaica Scorpions by 119 runs and post their first win of the tournament.
Resuming the final day requiring three wickets for victory with the visitors needing an improbable 197 runs, Volcanoes dismissed Scorpions for 279 in their second innings. They were inspired by seamer Kyle Mayers who added two of the three wickets to fall to his tally, to end with five for 92, while speedster Delorn Johnson picked up two for 71.
The championship will be on hold for the next three weeks for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays before resuming on January 4 when Barbados Pride host Windward Islands Volcanoes at Kensington Oval. (CMC/HG)
