PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Jason Mohammed’s half-century, along with a resilient lower-order stand between captain Rayad Emrit and Yannic Cariah, bailed Trinidad and Tobago out of deep trouble on the opening day of their second round Regional Four-Day Championship match here yesterday.
Sent in at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad stumbled to 17 for two and then 153 for seven, before eventually being dismissed for a respectable 222.
Left-arm seamer Delorn Johnson grabbed five for 48 and left-arm spinner Alston Bobb finished with four for 53, as they ripped through the innings to leave T&T in turmoil.
At the close, the Windwards were 12 without loss in the two overs possible, with left-hander Devon Smith on eight and Tyrone Theophile on four.
The hosts needed Mohammed’s tenacity after they found themselves on 17 for two in the seventh over the day.
Johnson trapped opener Evin Lewis lbw for two before speedster Nelon Pascal claimed the prized wicket of Test batsman Darren Bravo, caught at the wicket for one.
Mohammed then combined with out-of-favour Windies batsman Adrian Barath to dig T&T out of trouble with a 68-run, third wicket stand.
The right-handed Mohammed top scored with 73, in an innings that consumed 164 balls and spanned three hours and 22 minutes, with ten fours. Barath’s 39, meanwhile, came from 103 balls and included six fours.
When Barath chased a wide one just after lunch and nicked Johnson behind, Mohammed found an ally in Stephen Katwaroo (20), and the pair put on a further 55 for the fourth wicket.
Katwaroo’s dismissal, stumped off Bobb, triggered a slide that saw T&T lose four wickets for 13 runs, to slide to 153 for seven. Mohammed was among the carnage, caught at short leg off Bobb, just after tea.
Emrit and Cariah, however, defied the Windwards attack, sparing the home side blushes in a 51-run, eighth wicket partnership. Emrit cracked 28 from 54 balls with three balls and a six while Cariah hit 24 from 47 balls with two boundaries.
Scoreboard
T&T 1st Innings
A Barath c wkp James b Johnson 39
E Lewis lbw b Johnson 2
D Bravo c wkp James b Pascal 1
J Mohammed c Currency b Bobb 73
+S Katwaroo st James b Bobb 20
I Khan c wkp James b Bobb 4
A Hosein c Lesporis b Bobb 7
Y Cariah c wkp James b Johnson 24
*R Emrit b Johnson 28
M Richards c wkp James b Johnson 15
S Gabriel not out 2
Extras (lb3, w1 nb3) 7
TOTAL (all out, 85.4 overs) 222
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-17, 3-85, 4-140, 5-141, 6-150, 7-153, 8-204, 9-207, 10-222.
Bowling: Pascal 9-1-27-1, Johnson 17.4-5-48-5, Peters 16-6-34-0, Bobb 22-2-53-4, L Sebastien 15-5-39-0, Polius 6-1-18-0.
WINDWARDS 1st Innings
D Smith not out 8
T Theophille not out 4
TOTAL (without loss, 2 overs) 12
To bat: *L Sebastien, A Bobb, R Currency, +L James, D Johnson, K Lesporis, N Pascal, K Peters, D Polius.
Bowling: Gabriel 1-0-8-0, Richards 1-0-4-0.
Position: Windwards trail T&T by 210 runs with all first innings intact.
Toss: Windwards.
Umpires: D Ramdhanie D Millns.
