KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Test left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican and rookie leg-spinner Darel Cyrus both grabbed five-wicket hauls to star on the opening day of the third round of matches in the West Indies Championship here Wednesday.
At Sabina Park in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, the 31-year-old Warrican finished with five for 62 as Jamaica Scorpions were bowled out for 269.
In reply, Barbados Pride was 15 without loss and 254 runs in arrears heading into Thursday’s second day at the storied venue.
In only his second first-class match after making his debut last week, Cyrus claimed six for 72 to send Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners tumbling for 204 all out at Chedwin Park in St Catherine.
Only three balls were possible in the Windward Islands Volcanoes reply before bad light ended play, with no runs yet on the board.
Sent in earlier, Scorpions were carried by a career-best unbeaten 97 from Romarine Morris, while opener Carlos Brown and Test left-hander Kirk McKenzie both chimed in with 40 runs apiece.
Chadwick Walton (5), who made a century in the last round, was an early casualty when he fended at a short ball from fast bowler Jair McAllister (3-69) for wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to take a one-handed catch diving in front of first slip.
Brown struck seven fours off 105 balls, and McKenzie, who faced 79 deliveries and counted five fours, then put on a crucial 75 for the second wicket to get Scorpions to lunch with no further loss at 71 for one.
Brown perished after the break, caught at first slip off McAllister, and McKenzie followed soon afterward, lofting Warrican into the lap of long on.
Scorpions then slumped to 113 for five before Morris led the revival in a 75-run, sixth-wicket stand with captain Jermaine Blackwood (18) and then in a 46-run, seventh-wicket partnership with Peat Salmon (24).
Morris struck ten fours and three sixes in a knock lasting 126 deliveries.
In the southeast, the 27-year-old Cyrus made the headlines after Volcanoes elected to bowl first following a delayed start due to an impaired outfield.
Demario Richards top-scored with 46, Damel Evelyn got 43, captain Jonathan Carter struck 31, and Test batsman Shamarh Brooks scored 29, but Cyrus accounted for two of the four as he scythed through the middle order.
CCC lost Kirstan Kallicharan for one with as many on the board but was then revived thanks to Evelyn, who put on 43 for the second wicket with Brooks and 40 for the fourth wicket with Carter.
Richards then arrived to add to the CCC resistance before Cyrus bowled him after facing 104 balls and striking three fours.
and then 