Jaguars command the board after first round

CWI Colonial Medical Insurance Regional 4-day Championship…

Five-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars have beaten the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, and Windward Islands Volcanoes have toppled Barbados Pride to gain an early boost of confidence in the West Indies Regional 4-day Championship tournament on Sunday.

The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force have drawn their match against the Jamaican Scorpions, with whom they had to share match points; although the Red Force had had a better start, and had gained a few more points, to close out round one in third place.
Guyana dominated with 388 runs in the first innings, and then steamrolled Leeward Islands with the ball in their two innings, which yielded 154 and 254 runs respectively. Their combined total of 408 meant Guyana needed only 21 runs to win in their second innings; which was easily done.
Guyana’s performance has been awarded with 3 battings points and a similar amount of bowling and pace-bowling points, aggregating to 9 points to add to the 12 match points their win had given them.
Guyana lead the points table with 21 points, while the Windward Islands Volcanoes are in second position with 16.6 points and the Red Force sit at third with 9.4 points. The Scorpions follow closely with 6.6 points, while the Pride are in the penultimate position with 4.2 points and the Hurricanes are in the cellar with 2 points.

Red Force (460-4 dec) drew with Scorpions (278) & 300-8
With Scorpions needing to bat from the start of play to the close to avoid defeat, Palmer rose to the challenge and gathered an undefeated 116 to save them blushes while he earned the Player of the Match award.
He shared 131 for the third wicket with Jermaine Blackwood, after the West Indies batsman had extended his overnight second-wicket partnership with Assad Fudadin to 50.
Blackwood scored 78 and Fudadin made 34, but none of the other batsmen that appeared at the crease for the Scorpions on the day reached 20, which made the outcome more remarkable.
Akeal Hosein again led the attack for the Red Force with 3-65 from 35 overs, while fellow left-arm spinner Yannick Ottley and off-spinner Bryan Charles each took two wickets.

Pride (233) & (269) hurt by Volcanoes (234) & 272-7
Maloney led the way with 83 and Hodge made 60 to set up the Volcanoes’ charge to victory after they had lost veteran opener Devon Smith cheaply early in the chase.
The pair shared 109 for the second wicket, before Maloney added 63 for the third wicket with former Pride captain and international batsman Kirk Edwards, to take Volcanoes to 191 for two.
But three wickets – two to West Indies left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican – sent Volcanoes stumbling to 220 for five.
Familiarity bred success for Keron Cottoy however, and he drew on his knowledge of the opposition, with whom he has played club matches in Barbados, to guide the Volcanoes over the finish line.
Cottoy sealed the result when he swung a delivery from Pride captain Kraigg Brathwaite to deep mid-wicket for four.
Warrican ended with 3-68 from 31 overs to become the pick of the Pride bowlers, while Volcanoes off-spinner Shane Shillingford was adjudged Player of the Match.