Set 328 runs to win at the Three Ws Oval, the CCC got a defiant 101 from the veteran Reifer but were bowled out midway the last session for 216, stretching their winless streak to five games.

The Leewards, lying fifth in the championship standings, completed their second win – in six games – at 16:05 h local time and picked up maximum 12 points to trail Jamaica (60), Barbados (51), Trinidad and Tobago (39) and the Windward Islands (36).

Starting the last day needing a further 314 runs to win with nine wickets standing, CCC had a terrible start when they lost captain Simon Jackson in the first over without adding to his overnight score.

Pushing at a delivery from Tonge outside his off-stump, Jackson (10) edged to wicketkeeper Devon Thomas as the CCC dipped to 14 for two.

It became 22 for three when Chadwick Walton (7) was run-out attempting a risky single and they lost another wicket on the stroke of lunch when leg-spinner Anthony Martin had the CCC’s leading run-getter Nekoli Parris caught at forward short leg for 29.

The home side, led by Reifer, stubbornly resisted defeat in the post-lunch session and pushed their lunch-time score of 96 for four to 174 for six although they lost Romel Currency and Kurt Wilkinson cheaply.

Former West Indies batsman Reifer reached his fifty off 87 balls in just under two hours with eight boundaries and was only six short of a hundred at the tea break.

Off-spinner Omari Banks removed Currency (1) when Shane Jeffers clutched a firm shot at square leg at 108 for five, and Wilkinson (16) added 43 for the sixth wicket with Reifer before Tonge trapped him leg-before-wicket.

The 36-year-old Reifer departed lbw to medium pacer Tonito Willett shortly after the tea break and his departure triggered CCC’s decline towards defeat.

Without addition to the score, West Indies pacer Lionel Baker removed Ryan Austin (5) as the students wobbled to 183 for eight.

Reifer, who played four Tests and two One-Day International (ODI) matches for West Indies between 1997 and 1999, faced 184 balls, batted for 245 minutes and struck 14 fours and one six in scoring his first century of the season.

Tonge then completed the job for the Leewards when Kavesh Kantasingh (0) and Jamel Noel (19) gave second slip catches to captain Runako Morton to continue the CCC’s woes after a promising start to the season in mid-January.

CCC had won their opening game against Guyana by 96 runs but then lost back-to-back games to Jamaica and Windward Islands before playing to a draw with Trinidad and Tobago and losing to Barbados and now the Leewards.

Tonge led the Leewards bowling with four for 56 off 19.1 overs with four maidens and Baker claimed two for 34 off 15 overs with six maidens.

Willett, man-of-the-match mainly for his batting – knocks of 45 and 77 – in the game, returned tidy figures of one for 21 off 10 overs.

In the eighth round starting Friday, the beginning of the return matches, CCC will be idle while the Leeward Islands travel to face leaders and title-holders Jamaica.