Pride hold advantage after Red Force's batting meltdown

A DISMAL start from Trinidad and Tobago Red Force put Barbados Pride in control after day-one of the West Indies Championship fourth round, which bowled off at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba on Wednesday.

Coming off a poor batting performance in their previous match against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Red Force continued to struggle and were dismissed for a meagre 133 after 54.2 overs, just before tea.

At the close of play, defending champions Barbados Pride finished on 87/2 and trail by 46 runs, with Raymon Reifer (32 not out) and Jonathan Carter (19 not out) the overnight batsmen.

Having won the toss and opting to bat first, Red Force openers Keagan Simmons (duck) and Jeremy Solozano (six) perished within the first seven overs.

In the second over, Simmons was bowled by pacer Akeem Jordan after facing just two balls. Solozano followed in the first ball of the fifth over caught in second slip by Jonathan Carter off fast bowler Miguel Cummins to send TT reeling at 11/2.

The experienced pair of Darren Bravo and Jason Mohammed tried to bring some stability to the Red Force innings as they built a 19-run third-wicket partnership. Mohammed scored 12 but was sent packing after, caught by Raymon Reifer, attempting a big shot off left-arm pacer Ramon Simmonds.

At 30/3, Bravo and Yannic Cariah added 17 before the former was bowled behind his back courtesy another swinging Jordan delivery. Cariah (13) hit two fours but edged to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to sink TT further.

With skipper Imran Khan and his deputy Joshua Da Silva in the middle, Red Force entered the lunch break on 56-5.

At the resumption, Khan opened up on the Bajan bowlers as he flicked Greaves for a six and then edged Cummins for consecutive fours past gully and through extra cover respectively.

Khan’s theatrics with the bat forced Bajan captain Kraigg Brathwaite to introduce off-spinner Roston Chase to the attack. Although Da Silva scored slowly, he played patiently and sought to build a middle-order stance with his captain.

Khan however, tried to play an unorthodox shot off Simmonds’ pace but was caught by Cummins to send TT to 91/6. Before he was dismissed, the pair constructed the Red Force’s biggest partnership of 41 runs.

Terrance Hinds showed clear intent on his arrival to the middle as he slashed Cummins for four off his second delivery faced. Hinds went on to punish the Bajan bowlers, hitting one six and three fours in his knock of 25 from 31 deliveries to ignite a slow recovery for TT.

Hinds and Da Silva accumulated 31 more runs to the tally before the former was caught by Cummins (129/7). Bryan Charles entered, faced 17 balls and was bowled by Jordan without scoring.

Left-arm spinner Warrican cleaned up the final two wickets as he had DaSilva (23) trapped leg-before and Uthman Muhammed (duck) bowled

Topping the bowling for the Pride was Warrican (3/21) while Jordan (2/17), Ramon Simmonds (2/24) and Justin Greaves 2/26 also had good contributions.

In their turn at the crease, the Pride opened with skipper Brathwaite and Sheyne Moseley up against pacers Shannon Gabriel and Muhammad.

Gabriel bowled well in his first four overs but was replaced in the attack by brisk medium pacer Hinds. Moseley showed intent with the bat and hit Muhammad for a six and a four and another two fours off Gabriel.

In Hinds’ second over, he got the crucial scalp of Brathwaite (four), caught behind by Da Silva. Four overs later, Hinds struck again and sent Moseley (24) back to the pavilion out caught by Khan to send Barbados to 34/2 after 14.2 overs.

The left-handed pair of Reifer and Carter played smartly against a mixture of Red Force pace and spin. Reifer hit Charles for four fours while Carter smashed Khan for back-to-back boundaries in the remaining overs.

Summarised Scores: TT RED FORCE 133 - Imran Khan 29, Terrance Hinds 25, Joshua Da Silva 23; Jomel Warrican 3-21, Akeem Jordan 2-17 vs BARBADOS PRIDE 87-2 - Raymon Reifer 32 not out, Shayne Moseley 24; Terrance Hinds 2-14.