A SUSTAINED spell of probing and penetrative bowling from left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (6 for 33) provided Trinidad and Tobago with first innings points while a grinding, disciplined unbeaten 57 from Darren Bravo put the homesters in an advantageous position against Windward Islands in their Regional 4-Day second round fixture at the famous Queen’s Park Oval yesterday.Hosein, playing in his third first-class match for T&T; mesmerised the Windwards batsmen and finished with impressive analysis of 13.5-2-33-6 as the visitors folded for a meagre 122 which gave the Reyad Emrit-led Trinidadsians an exact 100-run lead having made 222 in their first innings on Friday.
Windwards prolific opener and former Test player Devon Smith was circumspect and played the sheet-anchor role while his hapless teammates succumbed to the wiles of the Hosein and Jason Mohammed (7-2-17-2) who together created all sorts of problems for confident strokeplay.
Smith remained undefeated on 48 when Windwards first innings closed at 122, after resuming at 12 without loss on their overnight total. He batted for 181 minutes and hit eight fours off 113 deliveries. He took his overall regional first class aggregate to 5 999 runs.
Darren Bravo, playing in his 58th first class match, eschewed his natural attractive strokeplay for a laboured, workmanlike Chanderpaul-type display with the ball not coming through for shot-making.
The variable bounce and puffs of dust flying whenever the ball hit the turf forced him to play a restrained innings which has so far lasted 185 minutes. The attractive left-hander faced 158 deliveries and stroked nine boundaries during his 19th first-class 50, an important unbeaten 57, as T&T closed the day at 127 for 7. His not-out partner is Yannic Cariah on 7.
Bravo was associated in a decisive 47-run seventh-wicket partnership with Emrit (17) who smacked one six and one four off 57 balls during their 74-minute battle on a pitch that saw T&T lose five wickets via lbw.
Earlier in the day, Devon Smith (8 not out) and Tyrone Theophille (4 not out) shared an enterprising 38-run first-wicket partnership in 9.4 overs before skipper Emrit effected the breakthrough by having Theophille caught by Adrian Barath for 17.
Dalton Polius was run-out for 5 (45 for 2) and Windwards soon found themselves in all sorts of trouble with the introduction of Hosein, who claimed two wickets in his opening over of what turned out to be a magical performance from the Queen’s Park Cricket Club player who had made his first class debut against Jamaica in the semi-finals at Sabina Park last year.
The former West Indies Under-19 all-rounder outfoxed his HPC teammates Keddy Leporis, caught and bowled for six and two balls later had Romel Currency, caught by Darren Bravo for no score. Both wickets fell at 60. Mohammed scalped skipper Liam Sebastien, also caught by Bravo for nine and Windwards retreated to the lunch interval in dire straits at 72 for 5 after 28 overs.
The 20-year-old Hosein operated in tandem with Mohammed and they destroyed the lower order for an addition of 50 runs for the remaining five wickets. Hosein had Lyndon James smartly stumped by wicketkeeper Steven Katwaroo for 22, Alston Bobb caught by Barath for six; Delorn Johnson caught by Bravo for two and Nelon Pascal lbw for four.
He celebrated his maiden first class five-wicket haul and T&T briefly enjoyed their 100-run lead.
T&T were soon under severe pressure with dismissal of both openers Evin Lewis lbw to Delorn Johnson for zero and Barath caught by wicketkeeper Lyndon James off Nelon Pascal for six. It was eight for 2 and then it became 28 for 3 when Johnson removed first-innings top-scorer Mohammed lbw for six. Katwaroo was bowled by Sebastien for two while Kenroy Peters gained two quick lbw decisions against Hosein (0) and Imran Khan (25).
Trinidad and Tobago would resume with a decent lead of 227 and three wickets in hand. They will fancy their chances of securing an outright victory.

T&T first Innings 222
WINDWARDS 1st Innings
(overnight 12 without loss)
D Smith not out 48
T Theophile c Barath b Emrit 17
D Polius run out 5
K Lesporis c & b Hosein 6
R Currency c Bravo b Hosein 0
*L Sebastien c Bravo b Mohammed 9
+L James st Katwaroo b Hosein 22
A Bobb c Barath b Hosein 6
K Peters b J Mohammed 0
D Johnson c Bravo b Hosein 2
N Pascal lbw b Hosein 4
Extras (w1, nb2) 3
TOTAL (all out, 41.5 overs) 122
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-45, 3-60, 4-60, 5-73, 6-100, 7-108, 8-109, 9-114, 10-122.
Bowling: Gabriel 8-3-20-0, Richards 5-2-11-0, Emrit 6-1-27-1, Hosein 13.5-2-33-6, Mohammed 7-2-17-2, Khan 2-0-14-0.
T&T second Innings
A Barath c wkp James b Pascal 6
E Lewis lbw b Johnson 0
D Bravo not out 57
J Mohammed lbw b Johnson 6
+S Katwaroo b Sebastien 2
I khan lbw b Peters 25
A Hosein lbw b Peters 0
*R Emrit lbw b Pascal 18
Y Cariah not out 8
Extras (b1, lb1, w1, nb2) 5
TOTAL (7 wkts, 48 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8, 3-28, 4-32, 5-59, 6-59, 7-106.
Bowling: Pascal 8-1-26-2, Johnson 5-3-16-2, Bobb 8-3-22-0, Sebastien 14-7-24-1, Peters 7-2-23-2, Polius 6-2-14-0.
Position: T&T lead by 227 runs.
By BRIJ PARASNATH In Trinidad & Tobago