Devon Smith century powers Windwards
A round-up of the first day's play of the fourth round of matches in the Carib Beer Series
Cricinfo staff
01-Mar-2008
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Devon Smith smashed an unbeaten 159 to guide Windward Islands to 347 for 9 on the opening day of their encounter against Combined Campuses and Colleges in St Lucia.
After rain delayed the start, Smith batted all day to make his 14th first-class century which featured 14 fours and two sixes. Windwards got off to a brisk start with Smith and Miles Bascombe putting on 58 runs before CCC struck a triple-blow. Bascombe went for 36 - with eight fours - while Andre Fletcher and Liam Sebastien fell without scoring. With Darren Sammy (37) and Donwell Hector (46) providing support, Smith steered Windwards, who lost both their previous games, to a position of strength. Floyd Reifer's fielding - he took five slip catches - was among the few bright spots for CCC.
Jamaica 41 for 1 (Parchment 18*, Marshall 1*) trail Trinidad and Tobago 257 (Ganga 79, Ramdin 63, Powell 4-60) by 216 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Despite half-centuries from Daren Ganga and Denesh Ramdin, Trinidad and Tobago were restricted to 257 by Jamaica's fast bowlers on the first day at the Queen's Park Oval. Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell shared seven wickets to ensure the day ended with the match evenly poised. After a superb spell from Taylor saw T&T lose three wickets for 12 runs to be reduced to 102 for 5, a 92-run stand between Ganga and Ramdin rescued the home side. However, table-toppers Jamaica picked up the last five wickets for 63 runs to keep T&T down to a moderate total. Helped by Ravi Rampaul's ten wides in two overs, by stumps Jamaica reached 41 for the loss of the big wicket of captain Chris Gayle.
Only 40 overs of play was possible as rain delayed the start of Leewards Islands match against Barbados till 3 pm local time. Captain Runako Morton led the way with an aggressive 73 to take Leewards to 166 for 2 by stumps. Opener Austin Richards was the other main contributor, making 45 after Leewards chose to bat on a hard pitch. They were also helped by some indisciplined bowling which gave away as many as 10 no-balls. Opener Javier Liburd was forced to retire hurt on 10 when he was struck in the forearm by a bouncer. Left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn took both the wickets that fell, with Richards having played on and Tonito Willett edging to slip.