Barbados Cricket Association article.
Bridgetown, Barbados - Former national captain and West Indies batsman Kirk Edwards showed glimpses of his class and determination to represent Barbados Pride in the 2016-17 WICB Professional Cricket League four-day Championship as the ball dominated the bat in the second trial match at Foursquare Oval today.
Edwards scored 37 with a few sweetly-timed shots as Omar Phillips' X1 reached 87 for three off 22.2 overs in reply to Kenroy Williams' X1 first innings total of 139 all out in 59.2 overs when rain ended play 28 minutes before the scheduled close on the second day.
A wet pitch had led to the abandonment of play on the opening day after the covers blew off during heavy wind and rain on Monday.
In the wilderness of international cricket for the last two years after a fairly enterprising start to his Test career in 2011, Edwards, who celebrates his 32nd birthday on November 3, turned out for Jamaica in eight first-class matches last season, scoring 346 runs (ave: 23.06).
But he is without a contract for the forthcoming season, which starts November 11 and with at least three batting places up for grabs in the Barbados Pride team due to the West Indies tour to Zimbabwe for a Tri-Nation One-Day International series next month, his chances of a call-up appear rosy.
Missing for the first three rounds of matches will be the likes of Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope and Jonathan Carter, who are among seven Barbadians named today in the West Indies 15-man squad for the November 12-30 series, which also features Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Edwards went to the crease at the end of the fifth over to replace his CounterPoint Wanderers team-mate, left-hander Shayne Moseley, who edged pacer Dawayne Sealy, yet another Wanderers player, for wicket-keeper Mario Rampersaud to take a neat catch to his left after scoring ten.
As he settled in with new Barbados Pride head coach Emmerson Trotman and bowling coach Henderson Bryan paying close attention, Edwards executed an elegant drive to the cover boundary off Jerome Jones, a big left-arm fast bowler, who represented the West Indies Under-19s at two Youth World Cups in New Zealand and Sharjah in 2012 and 2014.
Looking like the Kirk Edwards of old - he no longer wears his dreadlocked hairstyle since four months ago - Edwards faced 55 balls and hit three fours and a six before, in trying to go over the top, he edged off-spinner Stefan Gooding to Rampersaud three balls before the rain swept across the ground.
He had been missed at mid-off by fast bowler Shakeem Clarke, yet another Wanderers player, off left-arm spinner Nkosi Ross. In the process, Clarke split the webbing on the left hand and had to seek medical attention.
Edwards had watched the earlier part of the match from the comfort of the Pavilion chatting with Christopher Jordan, the England fast bowler, who represented Barbados under his captaincy in 2012 and 2013.
Left-hander Phillips was the other batsman to fall for 27, clipping leg-spinner Nikolai Charles to midwicket in Rashidi Boucher following a 54-run stand with Edwards.
Earlier, Tevyn Walcott, the little wicket-keeper/batsman from the Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP), topscored with 37 off 46 balls including five fours and one six after Williams' side struggled to 66 for five off 27 overs in the pre-lunch session.
Walcott and an obdurate Shane Parris featured in the best partnership of the innings - 47 in 10.2 overs for the seventh wicket - before Parris, who went to the crease at No. 3, was leg before wicket by leg-spinner Kissoondath Magram for 31.
Parris was the only batsman in Williams' X1 to occupy the crease for more than an hour. He batted for 155 minutes, faced 93 balls and hit two boundaries.
Magram, a Trinidadian from Mount Hope who turns 24 on November 13 and who plays for Carlton in the BCA Division 1 Championship, was the leading wicket-taker with three for 29 off 11 overs. He was one of the two non-Barbadians picked in the Player Drat for Barbados Pride in June (the other is left-arm pacer Preston McSween from Grenada).
After Williams' X1 won the toss, Boucher (12) again disappointed in his quest for a first-class recall, flicking fast bowler Keon Harding into the hands of forward-square in Chaim Holder.
Boucher's opening partner, left-hander Anthony Alleyne, who made 93 in the first trial match at 3Ws Oval last week, following a knock of 92 for Sagicor Life UWI against Massy Stores Spartan in the BCA Elite division Championship, also at 3Ws Oval three days earlier, was next dismissed, bowled by off-spinner Holder for 11 as he pushed forward.
BDFSP pacer Michael Sobers removed Aaron Jones (one), who edged a defensive stroke for wicket-keeper Carlos Maynard, his Massy United Insurance Wildey team-mate as well as former school-mate at Foundation, to take.
Kenroy Williams, leading the side in the absence of Kevin Stoute who is resting a stiff neck, was also a victim of Sobers, caught at mid-on by Harding for 20 to leave the score 59 for four.
All-rounder Stoute, who is strongly tipped to captain Barbados Pride in both the four-day and 50-over Tournaments, sustained the injury last Sunday while attempting a sharp single during his vital, match-winning knoock of 39 for front-runners ICBL Empire on the third and final day of the Elite division Series 6 match against BDFSP at Paragon.
Just before lunch, all-rounder Shamar Springer, a member of the champion West Indies Under-19 team at the Youth World Cup in Bangladesh this year, was leg before wicket by left-arm spinner Chad Williams for one.
In the eighth over after the interval, Holder removed Rampersaud for seven before Walcott showed some enterprise.
Magram then took the next three wickets - all in consecutive overs and all leg before wicket - before left-arm spinner Ravendra Persaud wrapped up the innings.
SCORECARD
KENROY WILLIAMS' X1 1st innings
A. Alleyne b Holder 11 (50 mins, 37 balls, 1x4)
R. Boucher c Holder b Harding 12 (21 mins, 12 balls, 1x4)
S. Parris lbw b Magram 31 (155 mins, 93 balls, 2x4)
A. Jones c wk Maynard b Sobers 1 (6 mins, 5 balls)
*K. Williams c Harding b Sobers 20 (45 mins, 41 balls, 1x4)
S. Springer lbw b Williams 0 (12 mins, 8 balls)
+M. Rampersaud c wk Maynard b Holder 7 (25 mins, 34 balls, 1x4)
T. Walcott lbw b Magram 37 (46 mins, 46 balls, 5x4, 1x6)
J. Jones not out 8 (52 mins, 46 balls)
S. Gooding lbw b Magram 2 (5 mins, 5 balls)
T. Shorey c Harding b Persaud 5 (35 mins, 31 balls)
Extras (b2, lb1, nb2) 5
TOTAL (all out, 59.2 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Boucher, 3.5 ov), 2-28 (Alleyne, 10.2), 3-29 (A. Jones, 11.2), 4-59 (Williams, 22), 5-65 (Springer, 25.2), 6-76 (Rampersaud, 34.2), 7-123 (Parris, 44.4), 8-124 (Walcott, 46.3), 9-126 (Gooding, 48.2), 10-139 (Shorey, 59.2).
Bowling: McSween 5-2-11-0, Harding 5-1-16-1 (nb2), Holder 14-4-29-2, Sobers 7-2-14-2, Williams 8-3-19-1, Magram 11-2-29-3, Persaud 9.2-5-18-1.
OMAR PHILLIPS' X1 1st innings
*O. Phillips c Boucher b Charles 27 (90 mins, 61 balls, 1x2, 2x6)
S. Moseley c wk Rampersaud b Sealy 10 (24 mins, 15 balls, 1x4)
K. Edwards c wk Rampersaud b Gooding 37 (71 mins, 55 balls, 3x4, 1x6)
N. Kirton not out 4 (9 mins, 5 balls, 1x4)
J. Stuart not out 0 (3 mins, 1 ball)
Extras (lb2, nb7) 9
TOTAL (3 wks, 22.2 overs) 87
Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Moseley, 5 ov), 2-81 (Phillips, 20.3), 3-87 (Edwards, 21.5).
Bowling: Sealy 5-0-22-1 (nb5), J. Jones 5-2-14-0 (nb2), Ross 5-1-14-0, Clarke 1-1-0-0, Gooding 5-0-31-1, Charles 1.2-0-4-1.
First Published On bcacricket.org.