KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) – Career-best bowling from Nelon Pascal put Windward Islands in charge against Guyana in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday. Pascal captured five wickets for 52 runs from 13 overs as Guyana, choosing to bat, were bowled out for 142 in their first innings about 10 minutes past the scheduled tea break on the opening day of their third round match at the Arnos Vale Multi-Purpose Complex.
Vishaul Singh led the way with 30 for the Guyanese, Royston Crandon scored 20, and Derwin Christian also made 20.
Pascal started his demolition job, when he removed Rajindra Chandrika and Leon Johnson cheaply in the first hour, and Guyana sunk to 62 for four at lunch.
After the interval, the Guyanese continued to limp along, and Singh and Christian added 48 for the sixth wicket in the biggest stand of the innings to help the visitors reach a respectable total.
Pascal, along with fellow pacers Mervin Matthew and Kenroy Peters, blew away the Guyanese lower order, with the last five wickets tumbling for 24.
Both sides are playing unchanged line-ups from their previous matches.
The two teams have also accumulated seven points in the competition, but the home team are officially fifth on the ladder, under the tie-breaker rules.
Both sides lost their opening matches, after gaining first points from their opponents, and both had their second matches badly affected by rain.
Since the turn of the century, Windwards have been the more dominant side in this fixture. Guyana started the decade with three consecutive wins, but the home team have won three times, and gained first innings points in five of the other six matches between 2004 and last year, which have all ended in draws.
This is also the first match between the two sides in St Vincent, since Guyana won by five wickets nine years ago.