NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Lendl Simmons used the occasion of the inaugural day/night WICB regional four-day match to hit his eighth first-class hundred for Trinidad & Tobago to put them in control against Guyana.
Simmons powered his way to 107 and that was the cornerstone of T&T’s 306 for seven in their first innings at the close on the opening day of the second round match at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground yesterday.
Playing on neutral turf, the T&T batsmen – led by Simmons – dominated the first two sessions, but the Guyanese bowlers kept things tight in the final period, and were rewarded with four wickets.
The T&T opener seemed to take a liking to the pink cricket ball, and the Guyana attack, and reached his hundred from 135 balls, when he turned a delivery from Esuan Crandon through square leg for two.
It was a brilliant four hours of entertainment, and he featured in a third-wicket stand of 143 with Jason Mohammed, who made a confident 87 on his return to the T&T team.
But left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul collected two wickets for 77 runs from 23 overs, and leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo took two for 82 off 27 overs to help Guyana bounce back.
In the first over of the day, Simmons got off the mark with an authentic cover drive to signal his intentions from early.
He was at the forefront, as T&T raced to 133 for two at lunch, after the dismissals of fellow opener Jason Guillien for 18 and Daren Ganga for two.
After the interval, the classy-looking Mohammed continued to offer great support to Simmons, and counted seven boundaries and a towering straight six in his half-century and looked set for a major score.
With his score on 61, and T&T on 185 for two, he started to suffer from cramp, and was forced to retreat to the dressing room to get treatment from trainer Ronald Rogers.
At this point, he had added 143 for the third wicket with Simmons, but it was also a tricky stage in the game for T&T, as the pink ball started to offer appreciable turn for Bishoo, and Brandon Bess was getting some swing from the northern end, as a stiff evening breeze came across the open field.
Simmons fell during this period, when he was caught close-in on the leg-side attempting to sweep his 165th ball from Narsingh Deonarine.
Sherwin Ganga fell for 18, and this prompted Mohammed’s return. He showed little side effects from the cramps, when he smashed a six over mid-wicket, but departed when he was caught in the deep off Bishoo. He batted for just over three hours, faced 153 balls, and struck 10 fours and two sixes.
From 206 for two, T&T went into decline and slipped to 264 for six, and in the final session, when the lights were fully operationals, Ramdin – mixing solid defence with aggression – and Rayad Emrit steadied the ship with a stand of 48 for the seventh wicket.
Permaul bowled Emrit for 17 just before the close, but Ramdin enjoyed a huge slice of luck, when he slashed at a wide ball and ‘keeper Derwin Christian dropped him off Bess on 35.
The ball went through Christian and rolled to the third man boundary to bring up the T&T 300, and give the day/night experiment a truly memorable inauguration.
SCOREBOARD
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 1st Innings
L. Simmons c Fudadin b Deonarine 104
J. Guillen c Permaul b Bess 18
D. Ganga c wkpr Christian b E Crandon 2
J. Mohammed c Dowlin b Bishoo 87
S. Ganga lbw b Permaul 18
D. Ramdin not out 43
I. Khan c wkpr Christian b Bishoo 5
R. Emrit b Permaul 17
D. Mohammed not out 0
Extras (b5, lb1, nb2) 8
TOTAL (7 wkts, 97 overs) 306
R. Rampaul, A. Jaggernauth to bat
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-39, 3-203, 4-213, 5-252, 6-264, 7-302. NOTE: J. Mohammed retired hurt on 2-185 with his score on 61 and returned at 4-213.
Bowling: Crandon 14-5-30-1, Bess 16-0-65-1 9nb2), Permaul 23-5-77-2, Deonarine 17-6-45-1, Bishoo 27-2-82-2
GUYANA: *S. Chattergoon, R. Chandrika, T. Dowlin, N. Deonarine, V. Singh, A. Fudadin, +D. Christrian, E. Crandon, B. Bess, D. Bishoo, V. Permaul
Toss: Trinidad & Tobago
Umpires: C. Mack, W. Mitchum