Edwards drops ton on Police

KIRK EDWARDS notched up a convincing century for Wanderers but Police enjoyed the better returns, garnering the full four bowling points against the visitors’ two for batting on a day of fluctuating fortunes.The lawmen won the toss and invited their guests to bat first under heavy cloud cover but when Edwards was compiling successive partnerships of 72 and 71 with Jason Greene and Renaldo Arthur for the third and fourth wickets, respectively, captain Dwayne Yearwood might have been second guessing his decision.But despite Edwards’ over four-hour, 189-ball knock of 129, Police struck back late in the day to reduce the Dayrells Road side to 247 for nine off 74.1 overs.Edwards started slowly after replacing makeshift opener Diego Stuart, who gave pacer Callitos Lopez the first wicket on his return to Division 1 cricket. The damp outfield hindered the scoring rate and it took an edge to third man off left-arm seamer Larry Babb for Edwards to register the first boundary of the innings in the 15th over.   The introduction of Sadiq Hill brought immediate success for the home team as Nick Evans edged the left-arm orthodox spinner’s third delivery to Antonio Mayers at slip.Edwards and Greene opened up against Hill and offspinner Jason Smith, with the former lifting both bowlers back overhead for sixes in consecutive overs.The stylish right-hander forced Yearwood to remove Smith, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, from the attack after five overs and posted the half-century with a scrambled single off his 100th delivery, aided by five fours and those two sixes.Hill, who saw Larry Babb put down a difficult chance off his bowling with Edwards on 32, had Greene caught at midoff just ahead of the tea interval which was taken with the total 116 for three.Play resumed after a 20-minute interruption for rain after the break and Arthur proved an equally able ally to the West Indies “A” player who proceeded to register his eighth First Division ton from 209 minutes’ batting, off 165 balls with a further five fours.His dismissal in the 72nd over triggered a late-order slide in which four wickets tumbled for nine runs in the space of 20 deliveries, leaving Wanderers with five balls to get the three runs that would earn them a third batting point.