BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Liam Sebastien marked his return from injury with tidy off-spin bowling that gave Windward Islands a slight edge over Barbados in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.
The Windwards captain ended with three wickets for 50 runs from 28 overs, as Barbados, sent in to bat, were kept on a tight leash, and limped to 201 for four in their first innings at the close on the opening day of their fifth round match.
Sebastien had missed his side’s previous match against Trinidad & Tobago with a leg injury, but he gave firm evidence that the one-week break in the tournament, as well as his intimate knowledge of the opposition was beneficial to him.
The stocky Sebastien has played the last three seasons of club matches in the island for reigning champions University of the West Indies, yet most of the Barbadian top-order batsmen failed to conquer him, and there was an unaccustomed lack of urgency about their rate of scoring on a hard, true Kensington Oval pitch under sunny skies.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite led the way with a typically painstaking 57, Kevin Stoute was not out on 45, Jonathan Carter, playing his first match of the season, made 33, Jason Haynes, also playing his first match of the season, got 31, and stand-in captain Shamarh Brooks was not out on 21.
Sebastien made the breakthrough for the Windwards, following a solid opening stand of 48 between Brathwaite and Haynes.
He trapped left-hander Haynes lbw in the final half-hour before Barbados reached 66 for one at lunch.
In the second over after the interval, Sebastien had Kyle Hope caught at short mid-wicket for 10, mistiming a pull at a short delivery to leave Barbados 68 for two.
Jonathan Carter joined Brathwaite, and they steadied the ship with a solid stand of 62 for the third wicket either side of tea, which arrived with Barbados on 138 for three.
Brathwaite reached his 50 in the last hour before the break, when he upper-cut Mervyn Matthew to third man for a deuce.
In the third over after the break, Carter was caught at first slip playing forward to a delivery from Delorn Johnson.
Brathwaite continued to journey on, but he began to tread water before Sebastien had him caught at deep midwicket essaying an uncharacteristic cross-batted stroke. He batted for a little under 4¼ hours, faced 197 balls, and struck just one boundary.
Brooks came to the crease, and spent the remainder of the day with Stoute to consolidate Barbados’ position with an unbroken stand of 60 for the fifth wicket.
Stoute was fortunate on 21, however, when Kenroy Peters failed to hold onto a return chance just after the drinks break in the final hour.
All-rounder Stoute blossomed in the closing stages, when he struck off-spinner Garey Mathurin to long-off for a couple of lofted boundaries, and was within reach of his first half-century of the season.
Windwards made three changes to their line-up for the match, with Sebastien, newcomer Atticus Browne, and Kevin James, replacing Johnson Charles, Donwell Hector, and Keron Cottoy.
Barbados suffered a major blow, when their regular captain Ryan Hinds was ruled-out of the match because of illness.
Experienced opener Dale Richards, all-rounder Roston Chase, and leg-spinner Ryan Layne are the other three players that joined him on the sidelines from the side which contested the previous match against Guyana.
Brooks, a former Young Barbados and Young West Indies captain, as well as captain of the West Indies High Performance Centre side that visited Canada last year, is leading the home team, which also includes fast bowler Tino Best, who was dropped against Guyana.
Windwards are fifth on the eight-team Championship ladder with 23 points. This follows a defeat in their fourth round match at the Arnos Vale Multi-Purpose Stadium in St Vincent, where they gained first innings points before T&T defeated them by 51 runs.
Barbados are seventh with 12 points, after they conceded first innings points in their drawn match – the fourth for the season – against the Guyanese at the Guyana National Stadium.
The Barbadians have won all but four of the 12 matches they have contested in the Championship against the Windwards, since the turn of the century.