Kieron Pollard - File
CAVE HILL, Barbados (CMC):
A stroke-filled 85 at better than a run-a-ball from Kieron Pollard helped Trinidad & Tobago achieve half of their objective, after they dismissed the Combined Campuses & Colleges cheaply in the Carib Beer Cup yesterday.
Pollard struck 11 fours and two sixes from 79 balls to lead T&T to 224 for five, replying to the CCC's season low, first innings total of 97, when stumps were drawn on the opening day of their sixth round match at the Three Ws Oval.
Pollard's two hours at the crease included a third-wicket stand of 117 with T&T captain Daren Ganga which helped the visitors to claim first innings points well before the close, and put themselves into a position from which they can clinch a vital win to keep their slim hopes of a title bid alive.
T&T might have finished even stronger had they not lost West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin to the third-last ball of the day, when CCC captain Shirley Clarke bowled him for 18 slogging at a well-pitched delivery.
Earlier, once umpires Dhieranidranauth Somwaru of Guyana and Terence Birbal of T&T made sure that the West Indies Cricket Umpires' Association's boycott did not affect the match being contested, Ravi Rampaul got things rolling for the visitors.
He snared three wickets for 22 runs in an opening spell of 10 overs to send the CCC crashing to 29 for three after they were sent in to bat under sunny to overcast skies on a hard, true pitch.
Amit Jaggernauth captured four for 35 from 11.2 overs to be the most successful bowler for T&T and Dave Mohammed took two for 14 from nine overs.
T&T entered the match in third position in the Championship on 31 points and the CCC in sixth on 15.
AT ST THOMAS, US Virgin Islands: Guyana, replying to the Leeward Islands' first innings 204 all out, reached 138 for four at the close of the opening day of their Carib Beer Series sixth-round match at the Addelita Cancryn Ground yesterday.
SCORES: LEEWARDS: 204 (Shane Jeffers 37, Tonito Willett 34, Steve Liburd 29, Jahmal Hamilton 28, Lionel Baker 28, Orlando Peters 22; Zaheer Mohammed 4-49, Brandon Bess 3-35, Esuan Crandon 2-35).
GUYANA: 138-4 (Shivnarine Chanderpaul 35 not out, Krishna Arjune 35, Travis Dowlin 26; Lionel Baker 2-20).
