Leewards edge T&T for first win

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Leeward Islands needed just an hour and 20 minutes to snatch the last four Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) wickets and secure a thrilling 29-run victory in their fifth round Regional First Class Championship match here yesterday.

Leg-spinner Anthony Martin proved the trump card for the visitors as he picked up five for 41 to send T&T tumbling to 153 all out at Queen's Park Oval. Off-spinner Justin Athanaze finished with four for 56.

The victory for the Leewards was their first of the tournament after garnering just three points from an abandoned match against Guyana in the last round.

Sherwin Ganga stroked a top score of 77, facing 182 balls and striking seven fours and a six, but found no support as T&T slipped to their first defeat of the championship.

AT PROVIDENCE, Guyana: Johnny Bairstow made the most of a small window of opportunity to usher England Lions to first-innings points over Guyana yesterday.

Bairstow, the son of the late, former England wicketkeeper David Bairstow, was not out on 32 and raced the Lions to 87 for three, replying to Guyana's paltry first innings of 78, in the 13 deliveries in 15 minutes of play that were possible on the final day of their fifth-round match at the Guyana National Stadium before the unstable weather interrupted play for the final time.

AT BRIDGETOWN: A defiant eighth-wicket stand between Lyndon James and Mervyn Matthew formalised a draw for Windward Islands with Barbados yesterday.

Both batsmen ended with five, but more important, they batted through the final 45 minutes and the Windwards limped to 89 for seven in their second innings, after they were set 172 for victory from a minimum of 40 overs on the final day of their match at Kensington Oval.