KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) – Daren Ganga fashioned his 21st first-class hundred to set-up a sensational, come-from-behind, 51-run victory for T&T over Windward Islands in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday. The T&T captain was undefeated on 134 to lead T&T to 255 for nine declared in their second innings on the fourth day of the fourth round match at the Arnos Vale Multi-Purpose Complex.
Rayad Emrit then snared four wickets for 40 from 15 overs, and Yannic Cariah grabbed three for 15 from eight overs, as the Windwards, chasing 224 for victory, were dismissed for 172 in their second innings with 36 balls remaining in the match.
Cariah, playing in his first match for T&T, had the privilege of formalising the result, when he trapped tail-ender Delorn Johnson for a duck about 20 minutes before the scheduled close.
The result meant that T&T collected a full 12 points to move to 33, and Windwards settle for four points, having gained the first innings lead, but losing.
After T&T declared during the lunch interval, Windwards ran into early trouble on 13 for two, when Shannon Gabriel made the breakthrough, trapping Johnson Charles lbw for one, and Emrit bowled fellow opener Tyrone Theophile for six.
T&T were, however, made to work for their next three wickets, with Andre Fletcher, whose 67 was the top score, featuring in three vital stands that added some beef to the Windwards’ total.
But Emrit made the breakthrough, when he had Keddy Lesporis caught in the slips off Emrit for eight, after sharing 30 for the third wicket with Fletcher, and off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth added the scalp of Donwell Hector, following the best of the innings with Fletcher worth 52 for the fourth wicket.
T&T had sunk Windwards to 107 for four at tea, and sensed there was a real chance for victory, but Lyndon James, the home team’s captain, joined Fletcher, and frustrated T&T with a stand of 36 for the fifth wicket.
Once Cariah spun into action, things further unravelled for the Windwards. Fletcher, whose innings contained nine fours from 98 deliveries in 131 minutes, and earmarked him for the Man-of-the-Match award following a hundred in the first innings, was caught at slip off the young leg-spinner.
The floodgates had opened, and the Windwards lost their last five wickets – two apiece to Emrit and Cariah – for 22 in quick time.
Earlier, Ganga broke his drought of hundreds, with a cut through backward point for the eighth of his nine fours off Kenroy Peters, which carried him to his milestone from 200 deliveries.
It was T&T captain’s first regional first-class hundred in 49 innings spanning a four-year period. His previous hundred – an undefeated 120 – was in the first innings of the 2007 Challenge Final against the old enemy Barbados at Guaracara Park in Trinidad.
Ganga occupied the crease for 317 minutes, which also yielded two sixes from 219 balls, almost single-handedly urged his side to the declaration during lunch, with no other T&T batsman, apart from Denesh Ramdin with 21, offering him stability on the day.
Peters finished with four for 69 from 21 overs to be the pick of the Windwards’ bowlers, and Johnson ended with two for 74 from 17 overs.
The Championship takes a break next weekend, but resumes on March 11, when T&T host Leeward Islands at the National Cricket Centre in Couva, central Trinidad, and Windwards travel to face struggling Barbados at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.