Greaves’ unbeaten 76 leads Pride recovery

2017/18 CWI/Digicel 4-day championship

– Joseph bags 3

By Clifton Ross

Justin Greaves stroked an unbeaten half-century to help the Barbados Pride recover from a disastrous state against defending champs Guyana Jaguars when round five of the 2017/18 Cricket West Indies (CWI)/ Digicel 4-Day Championship bowled-off from Thursday at the National Stadium, Providence.
Pride were 282-7 from 91 overs at stumps heading into the second day with Greaves compiling 76 in his resurgent knock which included 11 fours. He will resume his innings with Mario Rampersaud who is unbeaten on four.
It was a decent outing for Pride during their first innings as Kenroy Williams showed his efficiency with the bat, scoring a very important 68 and Kevin Stoute (47) along with Shayne Moseley (43) all batting well but failed to convert pretty solid starts to useful scores.
Jaguars fast-bowler Keon Joseph who ripped through the top-order ended with 3-63, with all-rounder Keemo Paul chipping in with two big wickets for 62 runs.
Batting first in good conditions, Pride lost their first wicket of opener Anthony Alleyne for a run-a-ball 11 when he held out to Paul which gave Joseph his first victim.
The West Indies A pacer then bagged his second when he had his A-team teammate and Pride’s skipper Shamarh Brooks trapped lbw for duck to which he followed with the dismissal of West Indies batsman Johnathan Carter who was stumped by keeper Anthony Bramble for 4 runs.
Opener Shanye Moseley continued to fight off the rampant Jaguars despite losing a few partners, taking his score to 33 at lunch as he and new batsman Kevin Stoute who was on 31. They added 58 for the Pride for a total of 90-3 at lunch. The left-handed Moseley, after stroking seven fours was run out by Veerasammy Permaul for 43 off 109 balls following the resumption of play in the afternoon session.
At 110-4, the Pride seemed to be in a spot of trouble after losing Moseley and things got a bit more rough when Stoute edged a delivery from left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie into the waiting gloves of Bramble for a defiant 47. Just when all seemed lost for the Pride due to the dismissals of their set batters, Williams and Greaves launched a gritty fight back which left the bowlers frustrated heading into the last session.
The tea interval saw Barbados taking their total to 178-5 with both Williams and Greaves already settled with runs coming off their bats.
After a brief passage of looking to rebuild, Williams was the first to reach his half-century off 110 delivers with nine boundaries while Greaves took a bit of time to reach his but got there comfortably off 125 balls.
Although the pair had dug in, the champions managed to keep the boundary flow at a moderate level as their bowlers seemed to be looking to take wickets rather than contain the Pride batsmen.
Just when things seemed to be going smoothly as stumps approached, Paul delivered the breakthrough his team desired when he removed the ominous Williams leg before wicket. The former West Indies Under-19 all-rounder then followed up by removing West Indies off-spinner Ashely Nurse who was caught in slip by Leon Johnson for 13.
Greaves and Rampersud then kept Guyana at bay as both batsmen did well to preserve their wickets when curtains drew close. Today’s action will continue from 09:00 hrs.