Windwards fantastic against T&T

The Windward Islands are sitting comfortably at the top of the West Indies Cricket Board four-day regional series, with two wins in as many matches.{{more}}

Perched on 24 points, the Windwards, last Sunday morning, completed an emphatic win over Trinidad and Tobago, here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, with more than a day and two sessions to spare.

The bouncing for the Windwards started Friday, when their bowlers were able to restrict Trinidad and Tobago to a modest 179 runs on a good batting track.

Jason Mohammed – 57 and Justin Gullien – 38, were the Trinis’ principal scorers.

Bowling for the Windwards – Kenroy Peters snared 3 for 28, Dalton Polius – 2 for 11, Liam Sebastian 2 for 21 and Dellorn Johnson picked up 2 for 32.

The Windwards, after losing their first wicket at 124, were dismissed for 260. Left-handed opening batsman Devon Smith, who is having a dream 2013 season, fell agonizingly for 99, the third occasion he has done so at the Arnos Vale venue.

Smith, who scored 139 and 106 not out versus the Combined Campuses and Colleges in the opening match in St Lucia, shared the first wicket partnership with Tyrone Theophile who cracked 70.

Other useful contributions came from Dalton Polius – 32 not out and Liam Sebastian – 22.

Ravi Rampaul collected 5 for 65 and Yannick Cariah – 4 for 39, as the Trinidadians, who last month won for the third consecutive time the Caribbean T- 20 title, clawed their way back into the match.

However, a combination of poor shot selection and tight bowling from the Windwards saw Trinidad and Tobago crumbling for 86, batting a second time.

Polius – 3 for 10, Johnson – 3 for 21 and Peters – 2 for 22, ensured that the Trinidadians did not come from behind and triumph, as they did when both outfits met at the same venue in 2011.

Devon Smith also held on to three catches, to add to the four he gulped up on Friday.

Smith 0 not out and Theophile – 6 not out, knocked off the six runs needed to gain their second successive 12 points and double their tally.

Coach of the Windwards team Ian Allen told SEARCHLIGHT, following Sunday’s triumph: “For the victory, I feel good… I feel good because the fact that, coming out of St Lucia, we would have done a lot of work out there….The satisfaction that I really take from this game is to see that, even though we didn’t have our main spinner (Shane Shillingford) and one of our top batsmen (Keddy Lesporis), we still managed to come out and win the game.

“Credit definitely has to go out to Devon Smith, who is the leading batsman and who is the batsman in form and Tyrone Theophile who was out the team for a couple seasons and coming back and play like that, he is a great satisfaction”, Allen cited.

Contending that he is taking things in stride, Allen said: “We are looking forward to the next four games… We are just taking one game at a time and see the best combination that we could have”.

The Windwards face off with Trinidad and Tobago in the Super50 series, this Thursday at the same venue and Allen stated that they are hoping to continue with their form by sticking to the basics and take it game by game. (RT)