Runako Morton - Photo by Gordon Brooks/Digicel
BIRMINGHAM, England (CMC):
Runako Morton continued his rich vein of form on the West Indies A team's tour of Britain, when he hit a half-century in a three-day, first-class match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston yesterday.
Morton made the top-score of 76, as West Indies A - sent in to bat - were dismissed for 235 inside the first hour after tea. Warwickshire had reached 15 without loss in reply when bad light stopped play early on the opening day.
Morton struck 15 boundaries from 121 balls in close to 2 1/2 hours of batting and added a crucial 72 for the second wicket with A-Team captain Sylvester Joseph, who scored 29.
Other vital contributions for the visitors came from Patrick Browne with 29 and Daren Powell who made 31 not out and added a valuable 39 for the last wicket with Dave Mohammed.
Pick of Warwickshire bowlers
Left-arm medium-fast bowler Adam Shantry was the pick of the Warwickshire bowlers with five wickets for 49 runs from 14 overs.
West Indies-A had a nightmarish start, when openers Sewnarine Chattergoon and Lendl Simmons were dismissed for ducks in the first 15 minutes to leave the visitors no runs for two wickets.
Morton and Joseph stabilised the innings with their partnership, but the wickets of the A-Team captain and Jason Mohammed set the visitors back on 93 for four at lunch.
After the interval, Morton consolidated with Browne and added 37 for the fifth wicket before he was caught behind off South African fast-medium bowler Tim Groenewald.
His dismissal triggered some instability in the batting and West Indies-A lost Browne, Darren Sammy for 10, Richard Kelly for eight and Tino Best for 18 all to Shantry, to leave the tourists on 196 for nine.
This left Powell, who hit half-dozen fours from 29 balls in 45 minutes, and Mohammed to bring some respectability to the total.
