Pacers put Red Force in driver's seat vs Pride on Day 1

TRINIDAD and Tobago Red Force remain in the driving seat of their round five West Indies Championship tie against Barbados Pride as they closed off day one play with a 96-run lead and six wickets in hand.

This, after Red Force fast bowlers Anderson Phillip (4/36), Joshua James (3/8) and Jayden Seales (2/32), wrecked the Pride's batting line-up, skittling them out for 86 runs in the second session.

At stumps, Red Force were 182/4, with Amir Jangoo (37 not out) and Yannic Cariah (19 not out) set to resume play on day two.

Sent in to bat at Kensington Oval in Barbados, the home fans were left speechless when West Indies Test captain and opener Kraigg Brathwaite (five), Jonathan Drakes (three) and Kevin Wickham (golden duck) all fell to TT’s pace attack with just ten runs on the board.

Phillip made the early breakthrough when Brathwaite got an unfortunate inside edge onto his stumps in the sixth over. Four balls later, Seales had new batsman Drakes trapped leg-before-wicket and then sent Wickham’s bails flying of his next delivery.

Seales did not achieve his hat-trick and the new pair of Zachary McCaskie (11) and Roston Chase (11) brought limited stability to the Bajan’s rocky start. They combined for 25 runs before McCaskie edged to Bryan Charles at first slip off Phillip.

James joined the party, three balls later, as he also had the experienced Chase edge to Charles, who had to go low to snare the catch. James meant business and immediately sent Jason Holder packing trapped in front his stumps off the next ball.

With Barbados reeling at 35/6, the Rayad Emrit-coached TT unit kept the pressure on. West Indies One-Day International captain Shai Hope (16) and Matthew Forde (two) took them to 52 before James struck again, bowling Forde through bat and pad. At lunch, the hosts were 68/7 after 22 overs.

At the resumption, Hope and veteran Kemar Roach (21) built Pride’s biggest partnership of 21 runs. However, a mix-up between the wickets saw Hope run out by James.

Jomel Warrican (duck) was caught by Seales off Phillip and Roach was last to go, caught behind by skipper Joshua Da Silva from another Phillip deliver, as Barbados capitulated for 86.

When Red Force began their chase, new TT batsman Kamil Pooran (60) got off the mark by playing square, down to backward point for four off fast bowler Jair McAllister. Two balls later, he struck a beautiful shot through cover for another boundary.

Cooper (32) also got in on the action as he smacked Roach for four down behind square leg. The right-handed batsman then edged through slips for four off Jason Holder and drove him for another off the next ball.

Pooran then slashed McAllister’s short, wide ball for six and continued to show good intent.

He hit four more fours from the next three overs and carried TT to 90 without loss from 19 overs at the break.

When play resumed, Cooper gave Warrican a rude welcome back by scoring a boundary. Pooran also drove down the ground for another four off Warrican to bring up his second half century at the first class level.

Not long after, Cooper brought up the 100-run partnership between the two, but perished soon after, bowled by Roach.

Four runs later, Holder had Pooran edge to wicketkeeper Hope to carry TT to 108/2. In came the tournament’s leading run-scorer Jason Mohammed (four), who failed to fire this time around, and was trapped in front his stumps by Holder. At 115/3 and a lead of 29 runs, TT needed to reassess their strategy as Barbados began to make inroads into their batting line-up.

Skipper Da Silva (seven) joined Amir Jangoo (37 not out) but he was also unable to replicate his form from the past three games, going out caught behind off Matthew Forde’s pace.

Into the final session, Yannic Cariah (19 not out) and Jangoo restored order by building an unbeaten 51-run partnership to close off day one on 182/4, with a lead of 96 runs.

Day two resumes on March 13 from 10 am.

TT (77.8 pts) are currently second on the eight-team standings, with Guyana (81.2 pts) on top and Barbados (73 pts) in third. Rounding off the table are Leewards (54.4 pts), Windwards (42 pts), Jamaica (35.6 pts), Combined Campuses and Colleges (20.6 pts) and West Indies Academy (19.8 pts) respectively.

Summarised Scores:

BARBADOS PRIDE 86 (26.2) — Kemar Roach 21; Anderson Phillip 4/36, Joshua James 3/8, Jayden Seales 2/32 vs TT RED FORCE 182/4 (51) — Kamil Pooran 60, Amir Jangoo 37 not out, Cephas Cooper 32, Yannic Cariah 19 not out; Jason Holder 2/35 — TT lead by 96 runs

WINDWARDS 77/2 (27) — Jeremy Solozano 43 not out vs GUYANA HARPY EAGLES

LEEWARDS 367/5 (86) — Jewel Andrew 122, Justin Greaves 104 not out, Karima Gore 65, Kadeem Henry 35; Chemar Holder 2/85 vs CCC

JAMAICA SCORPIONS 332 (83) — John Campbell 101, Javelle Glen 68, Odean Smith 51, Brad Barnes 44 not out, Jermaine Blackwood 31 not out; Akeem Auguste 2/45, Jediah Blades 2/46 vs WEST INDIES ACADEMY