Trinidad and Tobago Trial: Comfortable South make hay (10 January 1999)

10 January 1999

Trinidad and Tobago Trial: Comfortable South make hay

By Garth Wattley

For the third day running, at least for the first two sessions, the conditions once more tested the resolve and resourcefulness of the batsmen in the Gerry Gomez Classic.

Once again they-the northerners this time-failed the test. And by the close of the sun-drenched day three of this North/South encounter, Suruj Ragoonath and Dennis Rampersad had made it clear that they intend to take the Gerry Gomez trophy on its first trip down south.

Set a gettable 137 runs to win in a day and a quarter, South closed comfortably on 73 for 1, just 64 runs away from victory.

Off-spinner Mukesh Persad recovered from the ankle blow that had him seen him carried off the field on Friday afternoon to put the hurt on Ian Bishop's side again.

His tantalisingly delivered offerings earned him innings figures of four for 23, a match haul of nine wickets and almost certainly a place in the starting eleven against Guyana this coming weekend.

But the haul also undermined North's hopes of a sizeable victory target.

Their total of 98 was prompted in part by the pressure that Persad and Avidesh Samaroo, working in tandem, and the fastbowlers Marlon Black and teenaged Theodore Modeste applied.

Modeste, with his pleasing action and decent line, bowled through the first session (11-4-18-3) accounting for the first three bats-Imran Jan, Lincoln Roberts and Richard Smith.

But as the spinners comfortably settled into their groove against uncomfortable-looking batsmen, it became clear that the "Town Boys" were not going to be masters of their destiny.

Increasingly low bounce and the sluggish field gave them no encouragement, especially against bowlers getting some turn. And after another lengthy opening stand had been broken, the procession began.

Leon Romero and Imran Jan, together overnight on one without loss, batted through the first 45 minutes to add 14. Then Jan (6) snicked Modeste into the slips where Ragoonath held a smart, low one-handed catch.

Next in, Lincoln Roberts had made just 2 when, in Modeste's next over, he was trapped lbw playing back.

Having stayed 40 minutes for his 7 and with the total on 35, Richard Smith also went via the lbw route. The West Indies "A" player lost sight of a dipping Modeste full toss and was struck plumb.

Through the decline, stubborn Romero, struggling to get the ball away, determinedly fought on, collecting 15.

But shortly after lunch, following 139 minutes of resistance, he became the seventh lbw victim of the match, trapped in front on the backfoot by left-arm wrist spinner Avidesh Samaroo.

As Zaheer Ali, Vishal Persad-Maharaj, Mark Ramkissoon (all Persad victims) and Ken Hazel (bowled by Samaroo) changed places, it seemed that the extras (22) would lead the way.

But in 87 minutes, captain Bishop at least matched that, managing to get the lead up to what, in the context of the match, seemed a challenging total.

And his team may have been in a far better position this morning had Smith in the slips not put down Ragoonath's snicked drive in the second over of the innings, bowled by Asif Jan. The aggressive stroke was indicative of the southerners' mood. Anil Balliram had pulled the first ball of the innings for four off Bishop.

The total had only got to 22 before the North captain had the opener caught behind by wicketkeeper Ramkissoon.

Positive South were not about to be put off the victory trail, however. More intent on picking up runs, Ragoonath (27 not out) and the confident-looking Rampersad (30 not out) wrested the initiative from their opponents.

Rampersad has so far counted a cracking cover-drive and a nifty flick through midwicket as his two boundaries in a knock he hopes to convert into a match-winning effort today.

The national selectors will just be glad if he at least can turn promise into solid proof.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)