OFF-SPINNER Ryan Austin turned in yet another top quality bowling performance with a seven-wicket haul that dismantled Trinidad’s batting on the opening day of the Regional First Class cricket season at the 3Ws Oval on Friday.
But his fantastic effort was wasted by an inept batting display from the Combined Campuses and Colleges’ (CCC) batsmen yesterday afternoon when they crumbled for a meagre 111.
The clueless CCC?batsmen were bemused by the clever variations from off-spinner Sunil Narine, who took five for 22 while fast-medium bowler Dwayne Bravo chipped in with two for 38.
On Friday’s first day, the experienced Austin took seven for 84 as Trinidad and Tobago fell for 229 after opting to bat on a pitch that produced spongy bounce but no frightening pace.
But just hours after the news broke of Narine’s success in the IPL auction where he was bought for $700 000 by the Kolkata Knight Riders, the 23-year-old underlined his versatility.
Resuming on 11 for one the CCC lost Ramon Reifer caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo for seven with the score on 28.
Opener Yannick Ottley and Kyle Corbin (25) put together 32 for the third wicket but Narine broke the partnership that proved to be the catalyst for the total capitulation of the CCC innings.
Like Ottley (32) before him Nkrumah Bonner (2) was bowled by Narine as the home side went to lunch at 76 for four.
Narine added the wickets of Floyd Reifer (9), Chadwick Walton for a first ball duck and Jason Holder (0) immediately after the break as the CCC lost four wickets with the score stuck at 83.
By tea on the second day, Trinidad had reached five for the wicket of Adrian Barath caught at the wicket off Holder for two.
There was some concern in the Trinidad camp as Lendl Simmons was forced to retire hurt after being struck on the knee by a delivery from Kevin McClean with the second ball of the innings.
Playing under lights using the experimental pink ball, the opening day’s play was extended to the maximum additional half an hour with the 90 scheduled overs not completed by the scheduled close at 10:30 p.m.
Austin pushed his tally of regional wickets to 221 and made an excellent start towards his stated objective of being the top regional bowler for the third time in his career.
While Austin was the main architect of the CCC’s demolition job on their visitors, it was Holder, who made the initial strike at the start of an impressive spell of medium fast bowling. Simmons launched him over midwicket for six in his opening over but Holder responded in the same over by having the West Indies opener caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Walton for 10 with the score 31.
Jason Mohammed and Adrian Barath carefully compiled 47 for the second wicket before Austin made his first significant impact on the game with the wicket of Mohammed, caught at bat/pad by Ottley for 20 as Trinidad and Tobago went to lunch at 81 for two off 23 overs.
Almost immediately on resumption McClean who put in a disciplined performance (two for 43), removed Barath lbw for 28 to leave the Bravo brothers, Darren and Dwayne with the task
of consolidating. Neither could lift the tempo and Dwayne was lucky to survive a return catch to Austin when on five. He eventually fell to Austin after “hobbling” to 11 from 58 deliveries. By then his younger brother Darren had also been prised out by Austin for 15 and it was only a typically belligerent half century from Kieron Pollard that avoided a terminal decline after Trinidad and Tobago went to tea at 141 for six.
Captain Denesh Ramdin fell at the stroke of the interval when his attempted sweep off Austin was caught by keeper Walton moving to his left.
Pollard clouted two sixes and six fours in 60 made off 70 balls in 136 minutes before being caught at extra cover by CCC’s captain Romel Currency off McClean.
He reached his 50 off 64 balls with consecutive boundaries off McClean before the bowler got his revenge.
Trinidad & Tobago benefited from a whopping 53 extras, 26 of them from no-balls with Austin being responsible for 16 of them.
In seven overs before play ended at 11 p.m, CCC?lost skipper Currency, who fended a short delivery from pacer Shannon Gabriel to Pollard at gully without opening his account.
