CWI Regional Four-Day tourney: Paul bags five wickets to trigger familiar Red Force collapse

By Brandon Corlette in Trinidad

Guyana Harpy Eagles are in the driver’s seat against arch-rivals Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the fifth and final round of Cricket West Indies Four-Day Championships. In the match, played at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, Keemo Paul claimed his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket to reduce Red Force to 203-9 at stumps on day one.

On a flat track, Paul triggered the Red Force collapse with the hosts losing seven wickets for 25 runs, after cautious half-centuries from Jason Mohammed and Jermey Solozano.
Earlier, Red Force won the toss and opted to bat first under clear skies and on a good batting surface. The Harpy Eagles left out the slightly injured Chandrapaul Hemraj, while Nial Smith returned to the squad after a groin scare. Wicket-keeper batsman Anthony Bramble is still struggling with his arm injury.

After observing a minute of silence for the late David Holford, who was a former West Indies all-rounder, Keemo Paul got the first wicket for the Eagles when he cleaned up Keagan Simmons with a serious in-swinger.
At 6-1, opener Jeremy Solozano was joined by the left-hander Isiah Rajah, and the duo added 54 runs for the second wicket. Looking to play his shots, Rajah drove the ball fearlessly down the ground, but he was dismissed for 26 by a straight Kevin Sinclair delivery.
From 60-2, Jason Mohammed and Solozano took the Red Force to lunch at 71-2 after 28 overs. Solozano was on a patient 26, while Mohammed was on 10. Upon resumption of play, Solozano continued in his usual cautious fashion while Mohammed looked to play his shots, dancing down to Sinclair and striking him for a boundary over his head.

Having struggled in the past two rounds, the Red Force batsmen looked to pressure the Harpy Eagles with some sharp singles. A few catches were put down, and some close calls went the Red Force way.
While a cautious Solozano had reached his tenth first-class half-century from 175 balls, the brash Mohammed reached his 16th first-class half-century from 93 balls, and he did so by chipping down the track to strike Gudakesh Motie into the long-on boundary for a four.

Late wickets for Guyana
The duo took Red Force to tea at 149-2 after 61 overs, with Solozano unbeaten on 56 while Mohammed was on 55. When the final session resumed, Demetri Cameron finally got a wicket, and it was Mohammed’s, who guided one to Leon Johnson at a wide first slip and with the score at 178-3 after 72.4 overs. Cameron ended the 118-run second wicket partnership with Mohammed departing for 68 from 140 balls. Mohammed’s innings included ten fours in 178 minutes.

Five runs later, the painstaking innings from Solozano came to an end with Motie getting his first wicket in his 16th over. He took a brilliant return catch to see the back of Solozano, whose 72 came from 252 balls in 295 minutes. His innings included six fours.
With Red Force on 183-4 after 77.1 overs, Test wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva partnered Yannic Cariah, but Motie kept chipping away. He trapped Cariah (03) at the crease at 186-5, and then Paul removed Da Silva, trapped leg-before for two. Da Silva was playing across to a straight and low delivery, and the Guyanese had their tails up with Red Force reduced to 186-6.
Three runs later, Paul removed Red Force skipper Imran Khan (02) in similar fashion as Mohammed, this time caught at second slip by Vishaul Singh at 189-7.

And the Essequibian Paul continued to rock away in removing Bryan Charles and Uthman Mohammad. Shannon Gabriel and Terrence Hinds survived the day with Red Force limping to 203-9 after 90 overs. Paul ended with 5-41 from 17 overs, while Motie had 2-35 from 20 overs. Cameron had 1-38 from 12, and Sinclair had 1-21 from 10 overs.

The second day will bowl off from 10:00h Eastern Caribbean time at Queen’s Park.
Summary from other matches:
JAM v LEE. JAM: 302 (80), Palmer 144*, Merchant 55; Berridge 2/29, Archibald 2/64.
WIN v BAR. WIN: 203 (62) Bishop 44; Simmonds 3/25, Chase 3/46. BAR: 109/1 (24) Reifer 56*; John 1/14. BAR trail by 94 runs.