PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Rayad Emrit and Shannon Gabriel shared six wickets to lead a Trinidad & Tobago fight-back, after Andrew Gale led the England Lions’ batting with a hundred in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.
Emrit has so far taken three wickets for 47 runs from 17.5 overs, and Gabriel captured three for 72 from 13 overs, as the Lions, choosing to bat, reached 311 for nine in their first innings at the close on the opening day of their third round match at Queen’s Park Oval.
Gale struck 16 boundaries in 110 – his 10th first-class hundred – from 187 balls in close to 3 ½ hours to lead the Lions to 244 for three before they lost six wickets in the final session.
James Taylor supported with 66, Lions captain James Hildreth made 40, and Andrew Lyth added 34.
Emrit had Jimmy Adams caught behind for 14, and Sherwin Ganga had fellow opener Andrew Lyth also caught behind for 34 to leave the Lions 65 for two.
But Hildreth joined Gale, and they batted with enterprise to carry the visitors to 120 for two at the interval.
After lunch, Hildreth proceeded to add 95 for the third wicket with Gale before Amit Jaggernauth bowled him to leave the Lions 160 for four.
James Taylor stayed to usher Gale to his milestone, and they nursed the Lions to 238 for three at tea.
After the break, Emrit made the breakthrough, when he trapped Gale lbw, and wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals, as the Lions struggled with their batting for the first time in the competition.
The Lions made two changes, with Nathan Buck and Adil Rashid replacing James Harris and Maurice Chambers respectively.
T&T have made just one change, bringing Sherwin Ganga, younger brother of T&T captain Daren Ganga, in to replace Aneil Kanhai.
Both sides enter the contest with 18 points, but the Lions are the actual tournament leaders by virtue of the tie-breaker rules for the competition.
T&T had to settle for first innings points from a draw with Barbados in their opening match on home soil at Guaracara Park before landing a hard-fought, two-wicket victory over Combined Campuses & Colleges in their second home match at the UWI Sports & Physical Education Complex.
The Lions started the tournament with a comprehensive innings and 120-run victory over Leeward Islands at Warner Park in St. Kitts, and then gained first innings points from Barbados in their drawn second match at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND LIONS 1st Innings
J. Adams c wkpr Ramdin b Emrit 14
A. Lyth c wkpr Ramdin b S. Ganga 34
A. Gale lbw b Emrit 110
*J. Hildreth b Jaggernauth 40
J. Taylor lbw b Gabriel 66
+C. Kieswetter c Jaggernauth b Emrit 5
A. Rashid c Guillen b Gabriel 7
L. Plunkett c and b 7
D. Briggs lbw b Gabriel 4
N. Buck not out 11
J. Dernbach not out 0
Extras (b1, w1, nb1) 3
TOTAL (9 wkts, 90 overs) 311
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-65, 3-160, 4-244, 5-268, 6-272, 7-281, 8-285, 9-311
Bowling: Gabriel 13-0-72-3 (nb1); Emrit 17.5-5-47-3; Jaggernauth 25-8-54-1; S Ganga 12-1-41-1; D. Mohammed 8-0-34-0; Khan 11-3-42-1; Simmons 4-0-20-0 (w1)
Toss: England Lions
Umpires: N. Duguid, N. Malcolm
Matchreferee: H. Bruce
Reserve umpire: K. Barrasingha
