NAIN, St Elizabeth, (CMC) - The burly left-hander Aneil Kanhai smashed his third first-class century and kept Trinidad and Tobago afloat with almost half his team’s runs on the opening day of their sixth round Carib Beer Series match against Jamaica at the Alpart Sports Club yesterday.
Sent in to bat, Trinidad and Tobago struggled to 229 all out and the Jamaicans reached nine without loss in reply at stumps.
Kanhai hit 111 and shared in a 146-run partnership with rookie Sherwin Ganga (64) that provided the backbone of a generally stuttering T&T innings.
Pacers Dave Bernard and Dwight Mais shoved T&T on the back-foot early, combining for three wickets as the visitors wobbled to 22 for three soon after the start.
Mais struck first -- with only four runs on the board -- when he had Earnil Ryan (2) caught at point by Donovan Pagon, attempting to a huge drive.
Test batsman Daren Ganga (10) fended at a delivery from Bernard and edged to second slip where the Jamaica captain Gareth Breese took a smart catch diving to his left at 22 for two.
Without addition to the score, Dwayne Bravo -- shuffling across his stumps -- was trapped leg-before-wicket as Bernard celebrated another success.
Kanhai, fortunate to avoid a one-ball dismissal, and Sherwin Ganga, Daren’s younger brother, then halted the slide and dragged the score to 63 for three at the lunch break.
Debutant Odean Brown floored an easy catch off Bernard’s bowling at first slip when Kanhai edged the first ball he received, and though he had another escape closer to his hundred, his innings was most valuable for T&T.
Ganga, watchful and supportive, stayed with Kanhai for the entire post-lunch session and they went to the tea break with the score on 142 for three -- Kanhai on 76 and Ganga on 50.
Immediately after the break, wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh failed to glove an easy catch that would have sent back Kanhai for 78, but the adventurous Number 5 batsmen pressed on towards his hundred.
Ganga eventually fell -- at 168 for four -- after facing 173 balls and hitting six boundaries in his 257-minute stay at the crease.
It became 181 for five when pacer Andrew Richardson trapped Shazam Babwah (8) leg-before-wicket, and six runs later Gibran Mohammed was run-out with scoring.
On 97, Kanhai had stroked the ball to deep cover and his determination to get to his century in that instant, left Mohammed short of his ground in the rush to complete three runs.
The innings continued to decline sharply when off-spinner Breese dislodged Reyad Emrit (6) and Kanhai 11 runs apart.
Kanhai, attempting a slog-sweep, gave a high catch to Richardson at mid-on.
He counted 10 fours and one six in his 167-ball innings that lasted 247 minutes.
Young Test pacer Jerome Taylor then sent back Marlon Black (6) lbw, and Breese wrapped up the innings when a charging Amit Jaggernauth was stumped for 11.
Theodore Modeste was left not out on six.
Breese led Jamaica’s bowling with three for 35 off 19.4 overs, while Bernard picked up three for 57 off 14.
Mais (1-21), Taylor (1-24), and Richardson (1-50) were the other wicket-takers.
The visitors had a great chance to unsettle Jamaica at the start of their innings, but Ryan dropped an easy catch off Brenton Parchment, first ball of the innings from Black.
Parchment, a former West Indies youth captain, ended the day on three, and with Kepple (2), the Jamaicans will push for first innings points on today’s second day.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 1st innings
D.Ganga c Breese b Bernard 10
E.Ryan c Pagon b Mais 2
S.Ganga c wkp. Baugh b Bernard 64
D.Bravo lbw Bernard 0
A.Kanhai c Richardson b Breese 111
S.Babwah lbw Richardson 8
G.Mohammed run-out 0
R.Emrit c Lambert b Breese 6
M.Black lbw Taylor 6
A.Jaggernauth stp. Baugh b Breese 11
T.Modeste not out 6
Extras: (lb-2, nb-3) 5
Total: (all out) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-22, 3-22, 4-168, 5-181, 6-187, 7-195, 8-206, 9-217.
Bowling: Richardson 16-2-50-1 (nb-2), Mais 11-3-21-1, Bernard 14-1-57-3,Taylor 11-3-24-1 (nb-1), Breese 19.4-7-35-3, Brown 10-2-40-0.
JAMAICA 1st innings
B.Parchment not out 3
M.Kepple not out 2
Extras: (b-1, lb-1, nb-2) 4
Total: (without loss) 9
Bowling: (nb-2), Modeste 3-2-0-0, Jaggernauth 1-0-2, Black 3-1-5-0.