Khan  snares six for 60 to restrict  T&T batting
GUYANA and West Indies Under-19 right-arm leg-spinner Amir Khan took 6 for 50 as hosts Guyana were able to restrict Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) to 166 for 9 before bad light ended play at 17:42hrs in their third round West Indies Cricket Board Under-19 fixture at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.
Heavy early morning rain left some areas of the Camp Road venue outfield soggy, forcing the cancellation of play for the entire morning session and 30 minutes after.
When play finally got under way,  T&T won the toss and raced to 43 without loss, before the introduction of Khan limited them to 75 for 5 at, after which the 18-year-old leg-spinner, who made his first class debut against T&T senior side this year, claimed his first five-wicket haul of this year’s tournament to leave T&T on their eventual score at the end of the day’s play.
Keiron Joseph and Duane Cockburn give their team – who defeated the Windward Islands in their last match after losing to Jamaica in their first one of this year’s tournament – a solid start with both openers scoring boundaries freely off Ronsford Beaton and Clinton Pestano.
The introduction of spin in the form of Joemal La Fleur in the seventh over and Khan two overs later kept a tight lid on the scoring.
But it was Khan who got the breakthrough for the home team, when he had Cockburn lbw off the third ball of his second over (13th of the visitors’ innings) for 19, while Anthony Adams who took 2 for 36 followed up with the big wicket of Joseph who was caught by Beaton at mid off after facing 62 balls and hitting four fours in his 30.
The ever-reliable Akeal Hossein strolled to the wicket with his team on 62 for 2, but after hitting Adams for two fours, he pushed a delivery from the same bowler to extra cover where an alert Chandrapaul Hemraj fielded cleanly and sent the return to wicketkeeper Kevon Boodie, who found the left-handed batsman out of his crease.
The quick demise of Emmanuel Lett (9) and Deron Davis (0) left T&T on 75 for 5 at tea, with Khan picking up three of the wickets to fall for 12 runs at that stage of the game.
After tea, T&T’s skipper Stephen Katwaroo joined Savion Lara (26) and displayed a no-nonsense attitude when he struck the first delivery he faced from Khan back over the bowler’s head for six, followed by a four three deliveries later, before he was bowled by Adams to leave T&T on 95 for 6.
A resilient-looking Lara was joined by Isaiah Rajah (15) and they added 32 for the seventh wicket, with Lara hitting both Khan who bowled 17 overs unchanged between the first hour of play in the second session and the first hour after tea and Beaton for fours.
Rajah also struck Adams for back-to-back fours in the bowler’s 12th over that pushed T&T to 127 for 6, before he was caught by Beaton also at mid on off Khan, who later removed Lara caught by Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai after facing 71 balls and batting for 96 minutes for his resilient 26.
Stephen Sooklall who was unbeaten on 16 and Jovan Ali, 3, frustrated the Guyanese bowling, as they added 19 valuable runs to their team’s total before the umpires offered the lights to the pair who accepted.
Play is scheduled to commence at 09:30hrs, when the home team who started the round on 15.5 points in comparison to their opponents 12.3, will be looking to wrap up the innings early and press home the advantage given to them by Khan.