Report

Bernard leaves Leewards reeling

A round-up of the third day of the fourth round of the Regional Four Day Competition

David Bernard ripped through the Leeward Islands top order after they were forced to follow on to give Jamaica control of their game at Warner Park in St. Kitts. Warner dismissed first-innings centurion Shane Jeffers for a second-ball duck, had Shane Burton caught in his next over and then trapped Gavin William plumb in front to leave Leeward gasping at 13 for 3. The wickets continued to fall, with Odean Brown nabbing Dolson Tuit and Bernard getting Steve Liburd to nick one to the keeper, before Tonito Willart and Jahmar Hamilton stemmed the rot with a 66-run stand. Both men ended the day unbeaten, with Willart on 59 and Hamilton on 25. Jeffers made 118 in the first innings but received little support as Leewards were bunded out for 305, leaving them a deficit of 199 to overcome to make Jamaica bat again.
The spinners Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo spun a web around the the Barbados batsmen at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Permaul finished with 6 for 60 and Bishoo 4 for 66, as Guyana took a 128-run first-innings. Shane Dowrich was the only batsman to offer any resistance, making 76 before being bowled by Permaul. Guyana struggled in their second innings, slumping to 65 for 4, with Kevin Stoute taking two wickets, before ending the day on 90 for 4. Bishoo may not be taking any further part in the tournament, however, as he was called up to replace Dwayne Bravo in the West Indies World Cup squad and is awaiting confirmation from the ICC.
Resuming on 176 for 5 at the Three Ws Oval in Bridgetown, Combined Campuses and Colleges lost an early wicket to be 180 for 6 before stout rear guard action got them to 328, 45 short of England Lions' 373. Much of that lower-order contribution was courtesy an unbeaten innings of 81 by No. 8 batsman Carlos Brathwaite. The England Lions' spinners Danny Briggs and Adil Rashid caused most of the damage, taking seven wickets between them. England Lions openers Craig Kieswetter (102*) and Jimmy Adams (56*) began positively, piling up 168 for now loss at over four runs an over. They went to stumps with a lead of 213, with 10 wickets and a day's play to spare.
A dramatic collapse reduced Windward Islands to 252 all out, after they started day three on 149 for 2 against Trinidad & Tobago at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown. While overnight No. 3 batsman Andre Fletcher went on to complete a century - thus ensuring his team got a 32-run first innings lead - just one of Windwards' lower seven batsmen managed to get into double figures as T&T's spinners ran rampant. Legspinner Yannic Cariah picked up three wickets while offspinner Sherwin Ganga picked up two at a miserly economy rate of 1.56. The wickets continued to tumble when T&T came out to bat. They reached 127 for 4 at stumps, going into the final day effectively 95 for 4. For the visitors, a lot will depend on captain Darren Ganga who finished the day on 62 not out.