PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) - Fast bowlers Darren Sammy and Cameron Cuffy grabbed nine wickets between them to give the Windward Islands the early advantage against Trinidad and Tobago in their round four Carib Beer Regional Cricket Series fixture.
But at the end of the first day's play yesterday at Queen's Park Oval, the local team, after being dismissed for a paltry 203, had the visitors at an unsteady 24 for two.
West Indies opening batsman Devon Smith is not out on 17 and 16-year-old debutant Andre Fletcher yet to score.
After Sammy (5-37) and Cuffy (4-32) combined to wreck the homesters.
The islanders -- left with 15 overs of batting -- lost opener Rommel Currency (5) bowled by pacer Marlon Black with the total on nine, and one run later, the much improved Reyad Emrit had Roland Wilkinson (0) caught at slip by debutant Sherwin Ganga.
Smith and Fletcher gladly accepted the offer of bad light by umpires Basant Sahadeo and Dalton Holder with eight overs in the extended day's play remaining.
A total of 46 minutes was lost due to two sharp showers in mid-afternoon.
Earlier, T&T’s skipper won the loss and opted for first strike.
The local team left out Theodore Modeste, Rodney Sooklal and Kenton Thompson from the final eleven, which allowed 21-year-old Ganga his regional first-class championship debut, and West Indies left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed his first Regional match for the 2004 season.
The Rawl Lewis-led Windwards team left out Olanzo Jackson and Kenroy Peters.
T&T opened with Jan and Earnil Ryan and were soon in trouble when Jan was caught by wicketkeeper Junior Murray off Cuffy's bowling with the fourth ball of the innings and no run on the board.
Ryan (21) and the left-handed Ganga (37) added 47 runs for the second wicket before Ryan was bowled by the promising Sammy.
It was the first of five scalps for the right-arm speedster. At lunch, T&T were 69 for two, with Ganga on 35 and Dwayne Bravo on five.
The duo pushed the total to 83 before Ganga was caught by Smith off pacer Fernix Thomas.
Bravo and Aneil Kanhai (30) started to rebuild the innings, but a sharp shower sent the players off the field at 1.39 pm with T&T on 121 for three.
But on the resumption, T&T lost Bravo for 46 without adding to his total at the break. He was caught at slip by Smith off Sammy's bowling.
The right-handed Bravo batted for 109 minutes and 87 balls and struck five fours and two sixes.
He was particularly severe on Lewis hitting the leg-spinner for one six and two fours from successive balls.
After another break for rain at 2.17 pm, the lower-order batting of the T&T team succumbed to probing pace of Sammy and Cuffy.
Kanhai, Shazam Babwah (4), Gibran Mohammed (0), Dave Mohammed (1) and Emrit (13) all fell to poor shot selections.
It was left to Black (10) and Amit Jaggernauth (17 not out) who featured in a last-wicket partnership of 28 in 43 minutes to put some respectability to T&T's total.
Skipper Jan said given the condition of the pitch, his team is confident of bowling out the Windwards below their total.
"200 runs is a difficult task on this wicket which is assisting the bowlers. We are confident that we will bowl out the opposition for a small total.
We need to win to stay alive in the series and the guys are aware of that," Jan said.
Second day's play starts at 9.30 a.m.
TRINIDAD& TOBAGO 1st innings
I.Jan c Murray b Cuffy 0
E.Ryan b Sammy 21
S.Ganga c Smith b Thomas 37
D.Bravo c Smith b Sammy 46
A.Kanhai c Currency b Sammy 30
S.Babwah lbw Cuffy 4
G.Mohammed b Cuffy 0
D.Mohammed c Smith b Sammy 1
R.Emrit c Wilkinson b Sammy 13
M.Black b Cuffy 10
A.Jaggernauth not out 17
Extras: (b-3, lb-7, w-2, nb-12) 24
Total: (all out) 203
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-47, 3-83, 4-121, 5-135, 6-140, 7-151, 8-170, 9-175.
BOWLING: Cuffy 14.4-4-32-4 (w-2, nb-4), Thomas 17-5-56-1 (nb-1) Butler 8-2-23-0 (nb-1), Sammy 18-3-37-5 (nb-2), Shillingford 12-3-29-0 (nb-4), Lewis 3-1-16-0.