PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Hundreds from their current c aptain Denesh Ramdin and former c aptain Jason Mohammed in a record, fourth-wicket stand gave Trinidad & Tobago Red Force the early leg up on Windward Islands Volcanoes in the Regional four-Day Championship yesterday.
Ramdin was undefeated on 104 – his second hundred of the season — and Mohammed, playing his first match, was unbeaten on 100, as the Red Force reached 334 for three in their first innings at the close, after they were sent in to bat on the first day of the third-round match at Queen's Park Oval.
The pair have so far shared 194 — unbroken – for the fourth wicket, double a 97-run second-wicket stand between West Indies batsman Kyle Hope and West Indies “A” Team left-hander Yannic Cariah that set Red Force up, after the early dismissal of left-handed opener Amir Jangoo.
Ramdin, the former West Indies captain and wicketkeeper/batsman, is looking to once again convince the West Indies selection panel that he is a high-calibre player.
He reached his 14th first-class hundred from 148 balls when he smashed part-time off-spinner Kavem Hodge into the leg-side for the last of his nine fours.
Many believe that Mohammed has had a raw deal from the West Indies selectors and should have been elevated to the Test side already.
Two overs later, he gave firm evidence that they may be right, when he collected two runs off Hodge in the final over of the day to reach his sixth first-class hundred from 167 balls.
Ramdin and Mohammed erased the 15-year-old mark set by Dwayne Bravo and Richard Smith for the highest fourth-wicket stand for Red Force in a Regional Four-Day match against Volcanoes at Guaracara Park in the south Trinidad oil community of Pointe-A-Pierre.
Sherman Lewis has so far been the pick of the Volcanoes' bowler, taking 2-42 from 15 overs, but he and the rest of the visitors' attack were made to work overtime on an easy-paced pitch.
Lewis had early success when he had Jangoo caught in the slips for three in the third over of the day, but Hope and Cariah, both batting with purpose, set the tone for the rest of the batting.