Barbados Pride captain Shane Dowrich scored a top-quality century, while Rahkeem Cornwall took six brilliant wickets for Leeward Islands Hurricanes in a keen contest on the opening day of Round 3 of the West Indies Championship. Playing on Wednesday at Queen’s Park Oval, the experienced wicketkeeper-batsman shared a couple of half-century stands in the second half of the day after off-spinner Cornwall threatened to run through the Pride batting with a spell of 6-50 from 24 overs. Dowrich will resume Thursday on 116 not out which has so far come off 191 balls and included nine fours and a six.
Scorecard: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/215785/#scorecard
Cornwall removed left-hander Shayne Moseley for four, fellow opener Zachary McCaskie for 26, and rookie Jonathan Drakes for 22, and Pride stumbled to 57-4 at lunch. New ball bowler Sheeno Berridge then dismissed left-hander Jonathan Carter caught in the slips for a ‘duck’ with the fifth ball after the interval before Dowrich and Kevin Wickham halted the slide with a fifth-wicket stand of 93. In his third innings at this level, Wickham – a member of the West Indies Emerging Players program – played fluently before Cornwall dismissed him for 41 – well taken at slip by Kieran Powell and Shamar Springer for four smartly stumped by Jahmar Hamilton, as Barbados slipped to 164-6 at tea.
After the break, Dowrich got solid support from left-hander Dominic Drakes, and allrounder Chaim Holder. Drakes made 22 and put on 47 for the seventh wicket with Dowrich before he was caught close to the wicket, and Holder made a career-best 43 before he fell to left-arm pacer Colin Archibald in the final half-hour. For Dowrich it was his eighth first-class century and he is now among the leading batters this season with 185 runs (average 185) in four innings. Cornwall is now the leading bowler for the season as he took his third five-wicket haul to move to 16 wickets.
Harpy Eagles start strong against Red Force
At Brian Lara Cricket Academy: Guyana Harpy Eagles posted a first innings score of 324 all out against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, Sent into bat first, Johnson 62 (99), Anthony Bramble 56 (56) and Kevin Sinclair 69 (96) together with 44 (109) from Kemol Savory and 46 (39) from Keemo Paul, took the visitors to a respectable total after they were tottering on 33/3 in the 18th over. Leg-spinner Imran Khan dismantled the Guyana lower order to finish with figures of 19.3-1-80-4, followed by off-spinner Bryan Charles with 26-5-85-3. Trinidad & Tobago Red Force faced one over before the close of play, finishing with 7-0.
Scorecard: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/215784/#scorecard
Johnson was pleased with his batter but disappointed that his team was bowled out, as bonus points are vital in this keenly contested match.
“The score yes (was good) but being bowled out was a bit of a damper. The pitch is not what we expected, it was a bit two-paced, which allowed us to score 130 in the second session and 140 in the final session. At 30-odd for three, I’m pleased that the guys down the order put their hands up. I’d like to get early wickets early tomorrow, if not I just don’t want us to give away anything.”
Greaves stars with 50 and 4-34 as Windwards rock Jamaica
At Guyana National Stadium: Windward Islands Volcanoes won the toss and elected to bat first against the Jamaica Scorpions. Alick Athanaze fresh off a plane from West Indies duties in South Africa posted a top score of 81 off 111 balls, which included 12 fours and a six. He received excellent assistance from Justin Greaves who made 50 from 97 balls with six boundaries and a six. That lifted their team to 217 all out. Derval Green was the pick of the Scorpions bowlers, finishing with figures of 11-3-30-5 followed by two wickets a piece for Nicholas Gordon 9-2-26-2 and Jamie Merchant with 12.3-4-39-2.
Scorecard: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/215786/#scorecard
In their reply, the Scorpions’s continued their struggles with the bat this season, as they closed the day on 98-7. Derval Green was not out on a run-a-ball 33 after he shared a 57-run partnership with Jamie Merchant who was trapped leg-before to seamer Greaves for 24. Greaves has so far been the leading bowler with 4-34 from seven overs while Shermon Lewis so far has two wickets – including his 100that first-class level.
The action continues on Thursday at all three venues. The first ball daily is 10 am (9 am Jamaica).
Fans can stream all West Indies Championship matches live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel https://bit.ly/streamwichamps2023 and access live ball-by-ball scoring at http://windiescricket.com/ match centre. Following the Championship, the new Headley/Weekes Series will feature three teams and matches, drawing from top performers in the 2023 West Indies Championship and players outside the starting West Indies Test XI. The Series will run from 18 April to 6 May at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.