PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago captain Denesh Ramdin stroked an unbeaten half-century to prop up his side after Windward Islands made key strikes on the opening day of their fourth round encounter in the Regional Four-Day Championship here yesterday. The right-hander finished the day on 67 as Trinidad and Tobago, winning the toss and batting first, reached 226 for six at Queen’s Park Oval.
Stylish West Indies left-hander Darren Bravo chipped in with 64 while Gibran Mohammed hit a chancy 28 and Imran Khan, 24.
Left-arm seamer Delorn Johnson rocked Trinidad and Tobago early in a five-over spell with two for eight before succumbing to injury while West Indies off-spinner Shane Shillingford claimed two for 52.
Ramdin arrived at the crease with T&T struggling at 101 for four and helped stabilise the innings with two key partnerships.
He put on 44 with Bravo for the fifth wicket before adding a further 81 for the sixth wicket with Gibran Mohammed who fell with five balls left in the day’s play.
Overall, Ramdin faced 170 balls in 196 minutes at the crease and struck six fours while Bravo lasted 153 balls and struck 10 boundaries, before edging left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin into the hands of captain Darren Sammy at slip on the stroke of tea.
T&T endured a rough start to the day as Johnson removed Justin Guillen lbw for seven with the score on 17.
Former captain Daren Ganga’s first innings of the season lasted just two balls before he was also lbw to Johnson without scoring, leaving T&T in crisis.
However, Bravo and Imran Khan added 54 before Khan fell without adding to his lunchtime score as T&T slipped to 71 for three.
Jason Mohammed popped Shillingford to Liam Sebastien at silly mid off for 12 at 101 for four but Ramdin and Bravo combined to stage the fightback.
The Windwards were poor in the field, letting six chances slip with Gibran Mohammed benefiting from three of these on 11, 18 and 26.

SCOREBOARD
T&T 1st innings
J. Guillen lbw Johnson 7
I. Khan lbw b Pascal 24
D. Ganga lbw b Johnson 0
D. Bravo c Sammy b Mathurin 64
J. Mohammed c Sebastien b Shillingford 12
D. Ramdin not out 67
G. Mohammed lbw b Shillingford 28
Extras: (b-9, lb-7, w-1, nb-7) 24
Total: (6 wkts, 90.2 overs) 226
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-17, 3-71, 4-101, 5-145, 6-226.
Bowling: Pascal 15-2-46-1, Johnson 5-2-8-2, Sammy 14-3-31-0, Shillingford 27.2-6-52-2 (nb-2), Mathurin 22-5-55-1, Sebastien 7-2-18-0.