Khan rocks Leewards to give T&T first victory
FOURSQUARE, Barbados (CMC) — Trinidad and Tobago required less than an hour and just 46.3 overs all told to decimate the Leeward Islands lower order on the final morning and race to their first outright victory in the WICB regional first-class championship at the Foursquare Oval.
Starting the day on 115 for five and needing another 87 runs to get to 202 to win the match, the Leewards collapsed to 156 all out in 15.3 overs yesterday with the tournament’s leading wicket-taker and eventual Man-of-the-Match Imran Khan taking four for 31.
At the start of the day Omari Banks (29) and Wilden Cornwall, who top-scored with 34 runs from 68 balls with a solitary boundary, batted comfortably to move the score along to 132 before Banks needlessly drove at a delivery from Khan which had pitched outside leg stump.
The ball lobbed to Jason Mohammed at midwicket and no mistake was made in hauling in the regulation catch.
That dismissal, which the Leewards could ill afford, marked the start of their eventual demise in a game in which they won first innings points and led for most of the three preceding days.
Khan then registered a double blow in his ninth over when he had Elsroy Powell (4) stumped by wicketkeeper Gibran Mohammed and Justin Athanaze (0) also caught behind off a rebound from William Perkins at silly mid-off.
The Leewards folded meekly shortly thereafter to be all out, handing Trinidad & Tobago full points in a clever rearguard win.
Off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth, who was not required to bowl on the final day took three for 41 and there was one wicket each for fast bowler Shannon Gabriel and off-break bowler Sunil Narine, both of whom are playing their first match of the season with Gabriel, a powerfully built pacer, on debut.
Khan moved to the top of the bowling charts with 29 wickets and Trinidad & Tobago have now accrued 21 points after losing to Combined Campuses and Colleges and drawing with Guyana and Barbados in the previous rounds.
Trinidad & Tobago return home having taken the bye for the fifth round in Guyana and will resume in round six against the Windward Islands at the Queens Park Oval.
