COMBINED CAMPUSES and COLLEGES seems to have forgotten most of what they have learnt over the past two months.
The first-time finalists were a major disappointment on the opening day of the WICB regional four-day final against three-time defending champions Jamaica at the 3Ws Oval yesterday.
The hosts predictably batted first on winning the toss but had no answer to Jamaica’s varied attack and could only muster 112.
By the close, Jamaica reached 106 for three but could have been worse off had CCC not spilled three chances, including two straightforward ones by experienced player/coach Floyd Reifer.
The match is still in its early stages, but CCC will have to do something spectacular over the next three days if they are going to deny Jamaica a fourth consecutive title.
CCC would have come into this final very confident against the background of winning five of their previous seven matches and having captured first-innings lead against their opponents in Jamaica earlier in the season.
All of that was quickly forgotten once the action got going 45 minutes after the scheduled start which was delayed because of rain.
Long before some morning classes had finished around the Cave Hill Campus, the students were reeling at 20 for five, collapsing in the face of an impressive new-ball effort by pacers Andre Russell and Jason Dawes.
Russell, just back from the World Cup, claimed three wickets, but Dawes, a former West Indies youth team representative, looked more impressive by producing superb inswinging yorkers that knocked over Romel Currency and Shacaya Thomas.
The first sign of a bad shot came when captain Omar Phillips aimed to leg against Russell, and got a leading edge that was skied to extra-cover.
Russell snared the big wicket of CCC’s leading run-scorer Kyle Corbin from a ball that cut in, came from the inside edge, and went into the off stump.
In recent matches here, spin was the dominant force on the first day when there was considerable turn. Yesterday, it was the turn of the faster bowlers to shine with their movement, either through the air or off the seam.
The movement of Russell also brought the downfall of Floyd Reifer, who was guilty of hitting across the line, and the left-hander didn’t even look up to see the inevitable signal that sent him back.
With half the side down and the cream of the batting down, CCC were in dire straits but avoided a complete embarrassment with the help of two of the youngest players, Raymon Reifer and Nkrumah Bonner.
They added 55 for the sixth wicket using contrasting styles. While the left-handed Reifer looked a polished player in stroking 42 off 95 balls with eight fours, the right-handed Bonner buckled down responsibly to compile 37 that occupied two and a quarter hours.
The action will start at 9:30 a.m. today to make up for the lost time yesterday.
