(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago Red Force clinched first innings points and were closing in on an outright victory against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) on the third day of their day/night West Indies Championship match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, in Tarouba, last night.
CCC, who started the penultimate day on 114 for two, were eventually dismissed for 222 in the second session yesterday as the hosts, who batted first and posted 504 for six declared, took a 282-run first innings lead. It took the Red Force 88.3 overs to get CCC out the first time around and T&T skipper Bryan Charles backed his bowlers to do it again as they enforced the follow-on.
But CCC were a lot more patient the second time around, reaching 90 for one at stumps still trailing by 192 runs.
The visitors denied the Red Force bowlers until late in the day when Khary Pierre finally broke the opening stand when he found the edge of Johann Jeremiah’s (29) bat with Bryan Charles taking an easy catch at first slip, with just about 30 minutes left in the day’s play.
But Evelyn (46 not out off 127 balls) and Avinash Mahabirsingh (five not out, off 24 balls) took CCC to the close without further complications.
Earlier, the Red Force didn’t have to wait long for the first breakthrough which came when leg-spinner Yannic Cariah was introduced four overs into the day’s play.
Cariah struck with his third ball, Shaqkere Parris (20) edging behind to wicketkeeper Antonio Gomez who took a smart catch to record his first dismissal in four-day cricket. Charles then got his opposite number Jeremiah caught by Cariah at short backward point for 60.
Kyle Corbin took CCC past 150 with a couple of fours off Cariah but wickets continued to tumble with Demario Richards (two) and Corbin (24) being bowled by Cariah and Charles, respectively, as the visitors slipped to 155 for six.
Cariah eventually got a third wicket when Akeem Jordan went for a slog across the line and was bowled for seven as CCC went to tea at 173 for seven.
After the break, Andre Bailey smashed Charles for a six to take the score to 200 but the innings folded quickly when James got the second new ball for the 82nd over. He struck when Bailey played the ball back onto the stumps for 13.
Abhijai Mansingh (27) was also bowled by James before Pierre ended the innings, bowling Ojay Shields for 10.
CCC showed patience in their second innings later in the evening and will need a lot more of that today if they are to deny the Red Force an outright victory.
In other matches yesterday, defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles defeated the Barbados Pride by ten wickets at Providence while the Leeward Islands Hurricanes defeated the West Indies Academy by 402 runs at Coolidge.
At Arnos Vale, the Windward Islands Volcanoes need 355 runs with nine wickets in hand to pull off an unlikely win against the Jamaica Scorpions.
