Red Force toil on Day 1 against Guyana

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force have some catching up to do when day two of the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day Tournament round three resumes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Thursday.

At stumps on day one, the Red Force closed on seven without loss, chasing Guyana’s valiant first innings total of 324 runs.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, TT produced a good start with the ball and had Guyana struggling at 33/3 before lunch.

But strong middle-order partnerships from the visitors turned the game in their favour, temporarily, as Kevin Sinclair (69), skipper Leon Johnson (62) and Anthony Bramble (56) all notched deserving half-centuries.

When Guyana’s third wicket fell, Johsnon and Kemol Savory (44) rescued the innings by constructing a 97-run partnership. Savory hit four fours in his knock and carried Guyana to 130 before he was caught by Bryan Charles off Imran Khan’s bowling.

Ten runs later, the Johnson departed, but not after a stern 66 runs from 99 balls.

At 140/5, new batsmen Bramble and Sinclair repaired the damage once more by putting on a 79-run stance to halt the Red Force’s progress.

TT fast bowler Uthman Muhammad thought he put a spoke in the visitors’ wheel when he had Bramble trapped leg before, but Keemo Paul’s introduction quickly meshed with Kevin Sinclair, and the pair put on another 88-run partnership to further frustrate the TT attack.

Bramble hit one six and eight fours in his knock of 56 from 56 deliveries. Sinclair and Paul took the Red Force bowling to task in the afternoon session as they showed consistency with the bat and regularly found the boundary.

Sinclair however, was brilliantly caught by Jyd Goolie, pushing Guyana to 307/7.

The remaining three wickets were snapped up by Khan for just 17 runs as the Jaguars posted 324 all out. Khan’s lower-order heroics saw him emerge with best figures of 4/80 while Charles (3/85), Muhammad (2/31) and skipper Darren Bravo (1/32) were among the wickets.

Guyana batted for 86.3 overs. When Red Force began their chase in the late afternoon, they put on seven runs in the one over faced.

Opener Jeremy Solozano (five not out) cracked pacer Paul for a four off his first delivery and squeezed out three more runs to set a fair stage for day two play. With him in the middle is Keagan Simmons, who is yet to score.

In other round three matches on Wednesday, Shane Dowrich led the charge for Barbados Royals as his unbeaten 116 saw them close the day on 294/8 against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

And at the Guyana National Stadium in Georgetown, Jamaica Scorpions are reeling at 98/7, trailing the Windward Islands’ score of 217, by 119 runs.

Batting first, Windwards’ Allick Athanze (81) and Justin Greaves (50) were instrumental with the bat while Jamaica’s Deval Green (5/30) shone with the ball.

In reply, the Scorpions never settled and were blown away at 41/6 from 11 overs. Green (33 not out) and Jamie Merchant (24) are their top scorers so far, with Greaves bagging an economical 4/24.

Play resumes at all venues from 10am on Tuesday.