ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Joshua Bishop starred with both bat and ball to spearhead an impressive fightback by the Barbados Pride and set up a mouthwatering final day of play against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in their West Indies Championship playoff here at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Joshua Bishop has taken four wickets to bowl Barbados Pride back into the contest against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.The Pride began the day 71 runs adrift of T&T’s first innings total, and though Bishop was denied a merited third first-class century after he was left stranded on 99 not out, his efforts along with that of last man Jomel Warrican got their side up to 296 to concede a first innings deficit of 37 runs.
The pair put on 47 invaluable runs for the last wicket, before Khary Pierre had Warrican caught for 10, leaving Bishop not out on 99 off 147 balls. He struck 10 fours and four sixes in his knock.
Bishop then returned to snare four wickets with his left-arm spin and together with offspinner Roston Chase reduced the Red Force to 209 for seven in their second innings – an overall lead of 246 runs – heading into Wednesday’s final day.
Things could have been much worse for the Red Force had it not been for Cephas Cooper’s unbeaten century that propped up the innings.
Cooper along with Evin Lewis, who made 14, gave their side a solid start by putting on 64 runs for the first wicket.
But once Chase struck to remove Lewis, T&T lost wickets at regular intervals to surrender their grip on the contest.
Bishop had Jyd Goolie caught for four and followed up by bowling Jason Mohammed for three, while Chase removed Amir Jangoo for 19, to see T&T slip to 114 for four.
Captain Joshua Da Silva looked to be repairing the damage during a 34-run partnership with Cooper, but Chase ended it by trapping the former lbw for 19.
With the match in the balance at 148 for five, Terrance Hinds joined forces with Cooper to add 49 runs for the sixth wicket and give T&T a slight advantage.
But just when it looked like the pair would forge a substantial partnership, Bishop grabbed two wickets in the space of 10 balls to change the momentum once again.
He first had Hinds caught for a patient 26 off 74 balls and with two runs added to the score, Bishop produced a gem of a delivery that caught the outside edge of Bryan Charles’ bat on the way through to the wicketkeeper to be out for a duck.
Cooper brought up his century just before the close of play and along with Pierre, ensured T&T would lose no further wickets.
He has so far faced 192 balls in his four hour and 39-minute knock and hit 14 boundaries.
Bishop has taken 4-60, while Chase ended with 3-49.
