Bishoo, Permaul spin Guyana to innings win

Guyana had come into their final match of the Regional four-day tournament with the trophy in their locker and they celebrated by thumping Windward Islands by an innings and 10 runs in Roseau. Devendra Bishoo took 10 wickets over two innings and Veerasammy Permaul was a close second with eight as they directed the course of the match.

Windward Islands had been put in, but their top order had taken control. Devon Thomas (92 off 97) and Tyrone Theophile (58 off 71) struck half-centuries and presented a 131-run opening partnership in 37 overs. That tempo was maintained by the No. 3 Keddy Lesporis (50 off 55). The trio carved 27 boundaries among themselves to lead the score to 218 for 4. The comfort of that scoreline though was dented by the architects having been dismissed.

It was all the opening Guyana needed. Bishoo took two wickets in two overs to drag the score down to 239 for 6, and finished with 6 for 74. Permaul backed him up with 4 for 64 as the Windward Islands lower-middle order floundered. They were dismissed for 283, with two ducks and a top score of 18 among the other eight batsmen

The Guyana top order, though, almost gave away the advantage. From 111 for 5, the reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck 119 off 285 and Chris Barnwell came up with his maiden first-class ton - 148 off 179, with 14 fours and five sixes - to upset Windward Islands' early momentum. Their 251-run partnership is the second-highest of the season as Guyana posted 427. Offspinner Shane Shillingford bowled 52 overs and took 5 for 118, including the two centurions.

Windward Islands' reply was meed, with six single-digit scores. Permaul struck the early blows this time - twice in the 16th over. Then the fourth and fifth wickets fell as the score moved from 85 to 86 and their final five were picked up at the cost of only 28 runs.

Rahkeem Cornwall's maiden first-class ton steered Leeward Islands to a five-wicket win over Trinidad & Tobago in the last round of the Professional Cricket League. The result did little to change the position of either team as T&T and Leeward Islands finished as the last two teams in the league.

Cornwall's unbeaten 101, off 84 deliveries with 11 fours and six sixes, helped revive Leeward's chase after they had been reduced to 100 for 5 in pursuit of 241. Three of Leeward's top five batsmen, including the openers, were dismissed for ducks but a fifty from captain Devon Thomas and the brisk 145-run, unbroken partnership for the sixth wicket between Cornwall and Steve Liburd - who scored his second fifty of the game - guided Leeward home in the 68th over.

Cornwall also had significant contributions with the ball, taking three wickets with his offspin in each of T&T's innings. In the first innings, T&T, who won the toss and opted to bat, were propped by Jason Mohammed's unbeaten century, with a contribution of 143 in a team total of 291. No other batsman in the T&T side crossed an individual score of 30, as each bowler in the Leeward attack succeeded in picking up at least a wicket.

Leeward's response began shakily as they stumbled from 24 for 2 in the sixth over to 59 for 4 in the 14th. They recovered through an 86-run partnership between Liburd and Montcin Hodge, but the latter's dismissal saw another slide that left them at 196 for 8. Liburd played a key hand, adding 49 runs with No. 10 Quinton Boatswain to help Leeward inch towards 250 and the side was eventually dismissed for 277. Liburd fell for a 197-ball 93, while legspinner Imran Khan took 4 for 70 to help T&T take a 14-run lead.

T&T's second innings followed the template of their first - the top order failed, while the batsmen who got starts failed to build on them. Kjorn Ottley was the only T&T batsman with a fifty in the second innings, scoring 80 off 156 as T&T were dismissed for 226, setting Leeward a 241-run target. Cornwall finished with 3 for 77 while Jeremiah Louis and Anthony Martin took two wickets each.

Barbados, having lost the title to Guyana, played out a dull draw with Jamaica in the final round of Regional four-day tournament at Sabina Park.

When the game was called off about an hour before the close on the final day, Barbados had crawled to 303 in 156 overs and claimed a lead 385 runs, after painstaking fifties from openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Omar Phillips. Barbados finished with 117 points compared to Guyana's 148.

Having opted to bat, Barbados lost Braithwaite for a duck. But Phillips and Shai Hopes, who registered a double-century in his previous match, rebuilt the innings with a 92-run stand and Sharmarh Brooks raised his second hundred in as many games, punctuated by nine fours and a six. Seamers Marquino Mindley and Jason Dawes had better success against the lower order as they removed the last five wickets for 59 and were bowled Barbados out for 310.

In response, Jamaica managed only 228 with failed starts being the recurring theme of the innings. As many as nine batsmen crossed double-figures and the top-three moved into thirties, but none made a substantial contribution as left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican picked up a career-best 8 for 72 - the second time this month that he has taken eight in an innings.

Brathwaite and Phillips gave a better account of themselves in the second innings, adding 131 for the first wicket in 54.1 overs. The rest of the innings progressed as slowly - less than two runs an over. Dawes took the wickets of Phillips, Hope and Roston Chase, stretching his match haul to seven.