Club Sportivo 2 de Mayo 0-2 Club Guarani ( att : 400 est ) – 2025 Paraguay Primera Division Apertura

February 3, 2025

The 2025 season in Paraguay was in its third week and today’s featured match bizarrely kicked off at 9am local time on a Monday morning, making it a convenient lunchtime watch for Fatbear in the UK !

It wasn’t clear why today’s match was being played at the unusual time of 9am on a Monday morning. Last season, all 2 de Mayo home matches were played at normal times for the Primera Division and a number were played under floodlights, but there was a suggestion that the floodlights at the Monumental Río Parapití were now out of commission ?

The first home game of the season against Club National also kicked off at 9am, but on a Saturday, but a Monday 9am start meant many supporters would not be able to attend due to work commitments. A further comment was that this was down to TV scheduling, but then how many TV viewers would there be on a Monday morning ? The match could have been scheduled for any time during the day at the weekend, it all seemed crazy !

Paraguay

Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America, surrounded by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast and Bolivia to the northwest

It has a population of 6.1 million off which over a third live in the capital Ascencion.

Paraguay National Team

Paraguay’s national team are currently 53^rd in FIFA’s rankings, having achieved a best of 8^th in 2001.

They have qualified for the World Cup Finals on 8 occasions with the best performance being in 2010 when after topping their group with a win over Slovakia ( 2-0 ) and draws with Italy ( 0-0 ) and New Zealand ( 0-0 ), they beat Japan on penalties after another 0-0 draw to reached the quarter finals, where they lost 0-1 to eventual winners Spain.

In 2002 they reached the last 16 but lost 0-1 to Germany, and in 1998 they lost 0-1 in extra time to hosts France, also in the last 16. In 2006 Paraguay lost a group game 0-1 to England and failed to get out of their group.

In the current qualification campaign Paraguay sit in 6^th place, four points ahead of Boliva with 6 matches still to be played. The top 6 qualify automatically whilst 7^th place goes into the inter-confederation play-offs. Therefore Paraguay look to have a decent chance to qualify for the finals for the first time since 2010, with home wins over Argentina ( 2-1 ) and Brazil ( 1-0 ) the standout results of their campaign so far.

Paraguay will qualify automatically for the 2030 tournament as they will host one match in the finals.

In the COPA America, Paraguay were the winners in 1979 when they beat Chile 3-1 on aggregate in the final and were runners-up in 2011, when they lost 0-3 to Uruguay.

There are three players from Paraguay currently playing in the English Premiership ; Brighton’s Julio Enciso ( 23 caps ), who is now on loan at Ipswich, Diego Gomez ( 12 caps ) is also at Brighton and signed from Inter Miami in January for a reported $15M, and Ramon Sosa ( 20 caps ) is at Nottingham Forest. Miguel Almiron ( 64 caps ) left Newcastle in the January transfer window to join MSL side Atlanta United. Defender Fabian Balbuena ( 45 caps ) was previously with West Ham before signing for Spartak Moscow.

Perhaps the most famous Paraguayan to play in the Premier league was Roque Santa Cruz ( 112 caps ) who played for Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City, and is Paraguay’s record goal scorer with 32 goals and third in the all-time list of appearances. Centre-back Antolin Alcaraz ( 23 caps ) played from Wigan and Everton.

Centre-back Paulo da Silva holds the record for the most appearances ( 148 caps ) in a career mostly played for Mexican side Toluca, but made 24 appearances for Sunderland between 2009 and 2011.

Ex-Velez Sarsfield, Zaragoza and Strasbourg keeper Jose Luis Chilavert was famous for scoring 46 goals in his career, including 8 in his 74 appearances for the national side.

Paraguay Primera Division

The Primera Division is the topflight for football in Paraguay but for sponsorship reasons is also known as the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco, or more simply Copa de Primera.

Like many countries in South and Central America, Paraguay utilises the Apertura and Clausura format. Twelve sides play home and away fixtures in both competitions, which produce two champions, but unlike some other countries, there is no final between the Apertura and Clausura winners to determine an overall champion. An aggregate table for the two campaigns is produced to determine the qualifiers for South American club competitions. The two champions enter the group stages of the COPA Libertadores, the next best placed side goes into the second round of the COPA Libertadores and the best performance in the COPA Paraguay of teams not already qualified goes into the COPA Libertadores first round. The next best four sides qualify for the COPA Sudamericana first stage.

Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the past three seasons. The two teams with the lowest average are relegated to the second division.  

There have been 131 champions and all but two have come from the capital. Olimpia have 47 titles, followed by Cerro Porteno ( 34 ), Libertad ( 25 ), Guarani ( 11 ), Nacional ( 9 ) and Sol de America ( 2 ). The outlier is Sportivo Luqueno from the city of Luque, which is part of the Gran Ascencion metropolitan area and has a population of 260,000, who won in 1951 and 1953.

By winning the 2024 Clausura, Olimpia are the defending champions and are joined by 7 other sides from central Ascension in the 2025 competition. Three more sides are based in the Gran Ascencion area, Tembetary from Villa Elisa, Sprtivo Ameliano from Villeta and Sportivo Luque. Two sides come from the provinces, namely General Caballero JLM from Juan León Mallorquín in the east of the country and today’s home side.

Club Sportivo 2 de Mayo

CS 2 de Mayo are located in Pedro Juan Caballero in the northeast of the county, close to the border with Brazil, and has a population of just under 80,000

Home is the 25,000 capacity Monumental Río Parapití which has a grass pitch and was one of the venues for the 1999 Copa América hosted by Paraguay. The name of the stadium refers to the conquest of the territories of Chaco soil during the Chaco War of 1932 to 1936 with Bolivia, up to the banks of the Parapití River, by the Infantry Regiment No. 1 "2 de Mayo". The football club is named in honor of the regiment.

The team are also known as The Northern Roosters.

2 de Mayo were promoted to the Primera Division for the 2024 season, where they achieved an overall 5^th place finish to qualify for the COPA Sudamericana, where they have been drawn to play at Guarani in a single-leg tie in March. Brahian Ayala scored 12 goals over the two competitions whilst striker Rodrigo Ruiz Diaz scored 7 goals in the Clausura and has since signed for Russian side Terek Grozny for a reported fee of €100K. His brother, Fernando Ruiz Diaz, is now the side’s centre forward.

Argentinian midfielder Franco Aragon had previously played for Sol de America and Sportivo Luqueno in the Primera division whilst fellow Argentine midfielder Fabricio Brener had played in Malta and Greece as well as Belgrano in home country. Right back Juan Feliu is from Argentina, but his football experience had been in Paraguay with Olimpia.

2 de Mayo started the season with a 0-0 draw at home to Club Nacional, playing nearly 60 minutes with 10 men, but won their second match, 2-0 at newly promoted Deportivo Recoleta with headers in the last 15 minutes from centre back Pedro Sosa and substitute Sergio Bareiro

Club Guarani

Guarani are the indigenous people of Paraguay and surrounding areas in Bolivia and Brazil.

Club Guarani were founded in 1903 and are the second oldest club and one of the most successful teams in the country, and they proudly have never been relegated. The last of their 11 titles was the 2016 Clausura.

Home is the 8,000 capacity Estadio Rogelio Livieres in the Pinoza barrio of Ascencion and Guarani’s traditional colours are yellow and black strips with black shorts,

Last season they were 4^th in the overall table, having finished 2^nd in the Clausura. However, they had drawn 21 matches out of 44 in the combined campaign.

The foreign players in their current squad were either Argentinian or Uruguayan. Argentine keeper Gaspar Servio had played for Banfield and Rosario Central back home, midfield Agustin Manzur started at Godoy Cruz but was now on loan from second tier Deportivo Maipu, whilst midfielder Nicolas Barrientos played in lower leagues in Argentina before joining Guarani. Uruguayan defensive midfielder Bruno Piñatares had a short spell with Australian side Western Sydney Wanderers as well as playing for Barcelona in Ecuador.

Experienced midfielder William Mendieta ( 34 caps ) joined in pre-season from Libertad, having also  played for Brazilian side Palmeiras and Mexicans Juarez in his long career whilst Fernando Fernandez rejoined the club from Cerro Porteno, having also played in Colombia for America de Cali and in Mexico for Tigres UNAL and Atlante. He needed one more goal for 150 in his career.

Defender Mario Lopez had played in Chile for Santiago Wanderers and Argentina for Quilmes whilst left back Alexis Cantero was part of the Paraguay under 23 squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics and was their most valuable player according to Transfermrkt at €900K. Centre-back Fernando Roman was also part of the Olympic squad

Guarani were top of this season’s table after the opening two rounds, winning 1-0 at champions Olimpia thanks to goal after 11 seconds from full back Daniel Perez but hit the woodwork twice and could have won by a greater margin, and then beat General Caballero JLM at home 2-1 with Mendieta and Fernandez on the scoresheet.

Guarani’s coach was ex-Gremio, Palmeiras and Gamba Osaka defender Franciso Arce ( 61 caps ), who played in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup Finals, scoring against South Africa in 2002.

Previous Meetings

Guarani had a clear edge in last season’s encounters, winning both meetings in last season's Apertura, winning 3-2 at home and 1-0 away and also won in Pedro Juan Caballero in the Clausura ( 1-0 ) but were held to a 0-0 draw at home.

Matchday Information

The distance from Ascencion to Pedro Juan Caballero is 470km, which would take nearly 7 hours by road. There are no scheduled flights from Ascencion to Pedro Juan Caballero.

The weather at the 9am kick-off ( noon UK time ) was sunny and 27 degrees.

Tickets for the match were 20,000 Paraguayan Guarani ( £2 ) although under 12s entered for free.

Bet365, who live streamed the match, couldn’t separate the two sides, with both at 8/5. The draw was 21/10

2 de Mayo were in their usual blue and white hooped shirts with white shorts but the red numbers on the back of their shirts were hard to read, although they also had small numbers on their shorts. Guarani were also in their normal kit of yellow and black stripped shirts, which black shirts and socks.

2 de Mayo made two changes to the team that started at Deportivo Recoleta with Feliu and Ronald Cornet coming in for Rene Rodriguez and Orlando Colman. Rodriguez was not in the matchday squad, perhaps he couldn’t get up in time for the early kick-off !

Guarani made one change, with Roman replacing Gustavo Vargas in their back four.

Match Report

The kick-off was delayed for eight minutes as there appeared to be a problem with the officials’ communication equipment. A long line of soldiers were visible along one side of the pitch, which seemed out of proportion for the paltry crowd in attendance for the start of the match, but spectators continued to trickle into the stadium during the first half.

The home side started brightly with a ball flashing across the face of the Guarani goal in the first minute, followed a minute later by a low cross from the right by Feliu being cleared on the 6 yard line.

In the 5^th minute a corner was headed just wide by Sergio Sanabria with Ruiz Diaz sliding in at the far post making a slight contact with the keeper, who collapsed to the floor, and Ruiz Diaz was shown the first yellow card of the game.

Little was seen of Guarani as an attacking force, although an aimless long ball out of defence gave 2 de Mayo keeper Carlos Servin his first touch in the 8^th minute.

The card count was levelled up in the 11^th minute when Cantero pulled down Mathias Martinez as he tried to escape down right wing. The freekick from Sanabia was straight at keeper Servio, who held at his near post.

It was all 2 de Mayo and Martinez showed good skill to control and pass for Feliu to run into the visitor’s area, but Mario Lopez was alert and made the interception. Shortly after Roman was forced to put the ball out for a throw in after getting to a long ball down the left-hand channel ahead of Aragon.

The Northern Roosters won another corner from down the left, but the keeper flapped under pressure at the in-swinging delivery but was deemed to have been impeded and a free-kick was awarded.

Nice interplay between the home forwards gave Ruiz Diaz some space but the shot from tight angle on the left drifted across the face of the goal and well wide.

2 de Mayo continued to press for the opening goal and from a ball down the left channel, Cesar Castro slid to keep the ball in play and cross in the same movement, but a Guarani defender put the ball out for another corner. This time Servio’s punch away under pressure was effective.

With 24 minutes played a good move down right saw Martinez release Feliu but the low ball across the 6-yard box was hoofed away left footed by Roman.

Out of the blue, two minutes later Guarani had their first serious attack. Mendieta’s fierce strike was blocked by Sosa’s head and the follow up from Manzur was deflected wide for a corner.

A water break was taken after 27 minutes and after play resumed, Martinez’s attempt to wriggle past two markers was illegally halted. The free kick into Guarani area was overhit but although Sosa managed to head back across the goalmouth, Servio made a comfortable catch.

Guarani were still having to soak up the pressure and another corner from the left was headed away at the near post. Another tidy move saw Feliu in space to cross from the right wing, and after two lay-offs a shot from just inside the penalty area was scuffed and bounced well wide.

2 de Mayo then had a 2 on 1 break but the return ball from Aragon to Ruiz Diaz was poor, over hit and too high, and the chance had gone.

Despite the dominance of the home side, there was very little noise from the crowd and the encouragement from the benches could clearly be heard on the audio.

With two minutes to go before half-time Sanabia was pushed by Mendieta and made the most of it to win the free kick. The set-piece was again overhit and although the ball was kept in play, offside was given.

As the game moved into the second minute of added time, Guarani won a free kick midway inside the 2 de Mayo half. Fernandez anticipated the ball forward from Manzur and escaped Ulises Coronel to athletically on the stretch, flick the ball with his right foot past the wrong footed keeper, who reacted a little slowly. The ball rolled into the far corner and against run of play, Guarani had taken the lead and the 20 or so away fans celebrated. Fernandez had his 150^th career goal and it was 0-1 after 45+2 minutes.

There was barely time for the restart so Guarani headed to the dressing room with a scarcely deserved lead. The home side had dominated the midfield but had failed to create any decent chances against a resolute Guarani defence.

The Northern Roosters started the second period strongly and Martinez immediately met a cross from the right wing, but his header from around 14 yards was a comfortable diving save for Servio.

Guarani centre-back Roman then hauled down Cornet on left but after Servio punched away the free kick, the follow-up shot from Sanabria from 20 yards was high and wide.

However, the home side were stunned again five minutes later. There didn’t seem to be any obvious danger when a cross from Manzur was partly cleared by Fernando Diaz, but Fernandez controlled the bouncing ball on his chest and then produced a scissor kick from 14 yards which bounced inside the post. Another smash and grab raid but it was 0-2 with 52 minutes on the clock.

Guarani attacked again two minutes later, and Sosa needed to put out a low cross from the left for a corner. Manzur’s corner was punched high in the air by Servin, who then rose the highest to catch at second attempt.

2 de Mayo moved quickly down the left but Castro’s cross was headed narrowly wide of the near post by the diving Ruiz Diaz. That was to be the striker’s last contribution as he was one of the four substitutions made in the 56^th minute.

Although Sanabria was brought down as he ran from the half-way line and Alcides Benitez entered the referee’s notebook, the changes seemed to have had an adverse effect on 2 de Mayo as Guarani had a 3 on 2 break but the final pass across edge of area was cut out by Diaz.

Then, in the 67^th minute a flowing move by Guarani gave Mendieta a sight of goal but his first time effort from just inside the area was pushed past post by for a corner by Servin. The corner was not defended well, and the ball flew across the 6-yard box as the keeper and defenders looked at each other, but Fernandez was unable to apply a touch, and the ball went out for a goal kick.

Barrientos then was putting to space on the left, but his goal bound effort from a narrow angle was saved by Servin, who gathered at the second attempt.

A second water break was taken after 72 minutes, and the home side produced a neat move as Castro played a ball behind the Guarani right-back for Sanabria to pull back from the by-line but the 2 de Mayo attacker took too long to pull trigger and the shot was blocked.

Guarani saw out the closing stages with relative ease. A long goal kick from Servio was headed off for a corner by Sosa under pressure from Fernandez. The visitors then received two yellow cards in less than a minute. First, Fernandez was judged to be taking too long to leave field when substituted, and then his replacement, Richard Torales, was shown a yellow for wrestling with a defender before the  corner could be taken, so saw yellow before play had resumed following his entrance to the field of play !

The last action saw Servio drop a cross in the 93^rd minute when challenged, but a free kick was given in his favour.

At the final whistle Guarani walked away with the three points that kept them at the top of the table. They hadn’t played particularly well, but two pieces of predatory finishing from Fernandez and a strong, disciplined defensive performance was enough. 2 de Mayo had played a lot of nice football but lacked a cutting edge and were now 7^th in the league table.

Highlights :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tjox9q2zUk

CS 2 de Mayo : Servin - Feliu, Sosa, Diaz, Castro, Rodriguez – Cornet ( Colman ), Sanabria, Coronel ( Britez ), Aragon ( Bareiro ) – Martinez ( Costa ), Ruiz Diaz ( Acosta )

Club Guarani : Servio – Perez, Roman, Lopez, Cantero ( Ibarrola ) – Benitez ( Rolon ), Manzur, Martinez, Barrientos ( Maidana ) – Mendieta ( Maiz ), Fernandez ( Torales )

 

 

Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs West Indies Academy, Day Two Morning Session – 2025 West Indies Championship

January 30, 2024

Yesterday saw the start of this season’s tournament and the match between the Leeward Islands and the West Indies Academy was being played at the Coolidge Ground in Antigua.

All matches in the 4-day West Indies Championship are being streamed live on the Windies Cricket channel on YouTube.

These diaries covered part of last season's game between the Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago, which included details of the games Fatbear had previously seen in the Leewards.

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/02/leeward-islands-hurricanes-vs-trinidad.html 

Coolidge Ground

I have never seen live cricket at the Coolidge Ground, which was previously known as the Stanford Cricket Ground, which hosted matches in the tournaments held by the disgraced US businessman Sir Allan Stanford before his arrest. These included a match between a Stanford Superstars XI against an England XI, as well as two tournaments where the individual Caribbean islands competed rather than as regions.

As the ground is located adjacent to Antigua Airport, it’s Sticky Wicket Bar was used as the Executive Lounge for passengers travelling on Virgin Atlantic, as well as being open to the general public. Despite not travelling on Virgin, we used to call in prior to our departures, and on one occasion witnessed the Leewards’ squad be put through their paces prior to an upcoming match, and I got to say hello to former West Indies pace bowler Andy Roberts, who at the time was the curator of the pitches in Antigua. Naturally, given Roberts’ reputation of a mean and grumpy fast bowler, he didn’t want to engage in any trival chit-chat !

Inside Sticky Wicket were tributes to all the Antiguan players who had played for the West Indies, which in addition to Andy Roberts, at the time included Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson, Eldine Baptiste, Winston Benjaman, Curtly Ambrose, Kenny Benjamin, Ridley Jacobs and Sylvester Joseph. There were also tributes to some matches played on the island, and there was even a picture of Geoffrey Boycott, who scored the first hundred in Test cricket on Antigua !

Unfortunately, Sticky Wicket was part of the fallout from the arrest of Stanford and hasn’t been open for many years. However, the Leeward Islands have continued to play matches at the ground as well as the much larger Sir Vivian Richards stadium, which is primarily used for hosting West Indies matches.

West Indies Academy

The West Indies Academy have no formal base and were formed in 2019 to provide a platform for emerging and youth players who were not part of the traditional regional sides. Together with the Combined Colleagues and Campuses, the West Indies domestic tournaments now have eight sides participating. Home matches for the West Indies Academy in this year’s four-day domestic tournament are being held in the two stadiums in Antigua.

Grenadian Teddy Bishop has played one ODI, against Australia in 2024 but made a duck, was the current captain whilst Bajan Joshua Bishop, no relation, scored a hundred in an unofficial test against Ireland A last year. St Lucian pacer McKenney Clarke also played against Ireland A last year, whilst Bajan medium pacer Johann Layne had played for the St Kitts Patriots in the Caribbean T20 tournament.

Left-arm medium pacer Jediah Blades, also from Barbados, made his ODI debut for the West Indies in December against Bangladesh but conceded 73 runs from his 6 overs, although the Windies went on to win by 4 wickets.

Team News

Due to the current West Indies tour of Pakistan, the Leeward islands were without Keacy Carty, Alzarri Joseph, Mikyle Louis and Justin Greaves, all of whom would be available for round two. Consequently, the current selection would be under pressure to perform well to retain their places.

The Leeward Islands side was captained by the colossal Antiguan Rakheem Cornwall ( 35 wickets in 10 tests and two fifties ). Anguillan keeper Jahmal Hamilton had played one test and one ODI whilst US Virgin Islands born leg spinner Hayden Walsh had made 25 ODI and 39 T20 appearances for the West Indies. New York born middle-order batsman and left arm spinner Karima Gore had played 16 ODIS and 8 T20s for the USA whilst 17-year-old Jewel Andrew stared in last year’s tournament leading to a call-up to the West Indies ODI squad to tour Sri Lanka, although he didn’t get to make his debut.

Day 1 Summary

The West Indies Academy won the toss and invited their hosts to bat. Both sides would have been slightly disappointed by the close of play score of 290 for 6 off 90 overs for the Leewards.

The Leewards put on 72 for the first wicket until Joshua Grant, who had bagged a pair in his only other first-class match, was out for 34. They then slumped to 128 for 4, with left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop taking all four wickets, bowling a tight line on a wicket giving him a little assistance.  Opener Kadeem Henry made 48, Shelton Forbes made 22 on debut, whilst Andrew was out first ball.

Gore and Hamilton rebuilt the innings, taking the score to 238 until Gore was out for 58 off the lively Layne, having mixed caution with three sixes. Walsh was out near the close for 21 enabling captain Cornwall to make an entrance, and the big man showed he had little interest in pushing quick singles, smacking three boundaries to finish the day 13 not out, whilst Hamilton had accumulated 67 runs, with 9 fours to remain undefeated at the close. For the Academy Joshua Bishop had 4 for 81 from 28 overs.

Day 2 Morning Session

The weather at the 10am local start time ( 14.00 UK ) was 27 degrees and sunny although there was a chance of thundery showers later in the day.

Layne, bowling to Hamilton, started the day with an offside wide, but had a better line next ball but Hamilton was able to shoulder arms and allow the ball through to the keeper. After Hamilton had taken a single, Cornwall struck another boundary to finish the over.

Blades opened the bowling from the other end, left arm over the wicket, and Cornwall surprised the fielders by calling for a single after Hamilton had pushed the first ball of the over wide of mid-off. Cornwall pulled the fourth ball of the over to fine leg and ambled a single, before Hamilton flashed and missed outside off-stump. The final ball of the over was pushed off his legs by Hamilton and they jogged an easy single. At the end of the over the score had moved to 299 for 6 off 92 overs.

Layne bowled a wide yorker but Hamilton missed with his attempt to squeeze behind point. The next ball was similar, but this time Hamilton managed to get the toe end of the bat to it, and the ball bounced past slip and down to the third man boundary. Layne then got a fraction of swing to beat Hamilton’s attempted drive, and continued his outside off stump line for the rest of the over. The final ball was crashed through the covers for the second boundary off the over. The score had moved to 307 for 6 and Hamilton was on 78.

Blades continued and Cornwall struck him firmly down the ground to mid-on but after thinking of taking the single they changed their minds. The next ball found the outside edge of Cornwall’s bat and the ball flew between the gap between the one slip and gully for four more. Blades dropped short and Cornwall pulled again but Dindyal at deep square was able to prevent the ball going over the boundary and keep the runs to just a single. Hamilton then steered a wide ball to deep backward point for a single, and Cornwall did something similar next ball but with a hint of an outside edge. Blades now had 1 for 94 off 22 overs and it was 314 for 6 off 94 overs.

Layne’s first ball of the next over was pitched up and Cornwall met it with a straight bat, lofting the ball over the sightscreen for six. Layne attempted a bouncer next ball, which Cornwall ramped to fine leg for one. Hamilton failed to take advantage of a wide lop hop, finding the fielder at extra cover, but found the gap in the same region for an easy single next ball. Cornwall then hammered the final ball of the over through extra cover for another four to bring up the 50 partnership. 326 for 6 off 95 overs, and the Leewards had added 36 runs from 5 over so far in the morning.

The Academy made a change to bring on Bishop, their most successful bowler from yesterday, and Hamilton pushed his first ball to deep point for an easy single. With Bishop bowling a tight line and flighted slowly through the air, Cornwall watchfully played out the rest of the over.

Layne was taken off with figures of 16-3-49-1 and debutant Michael Palmer, from St Maarten, was brought on. After an aborted run up at the first time, the first ball was nearly played on by Hamilton and no runs came from the other 5 balls for a maiden.

Cornwall pushed Bishop to long on for a single but Hamilton’s attempt to cut the third ball of the over only succeed in steering the ball to slip, and Dindyal pouched the chest high catch. Hamilton was out for 81 and Bishop had his fifth wicket. 328 for 7.

Cameron Pennyfeather was in at number 9 and was beaten all ends up by the final ball of the over. Bishop and Palmer had succeed in drying up the runs.

However, Cornwall had had enough of prodding around and slogged Palmer’s second ball high over cow corner for his second six off the morning, and then pulled a log hop a huge distance over the square leg boundary for another maximum. The next ball cramped Cornwal,l who could only prod into a gap behind point for an easy single. Pennyfeather hammered a short ball across the line which Blades at mid-on should have stopped but the ball went through his laboured dive and ran to the boundary. 17 had come from the over as the score moved to 345 for 7 over 99 overs.

Cornwall stepped back from Bishop’s first ball looking to get his fifty through the covers, but the ball turned, and keeper Carlon Bowen-Tuckett grabbed the edge at the second attempt. Cornwall was out for 49 from 42 balls. 345 for 8

Jeremiah Louis, in at number 10, was off the mark second ball with a drive to deep point, and next ball Pennyfeather attempted a reverse sweep but survived the big LBW appeal as the ball had pitched outside the leg stump. Pennyfeather attempted the same shot next ball and again missed. It was much closer to LBW but the umpire’s finger stayed in his pocket. Pennyfeather wasn’t looking comfortable against Bishop but a forward defensive saw a quick single taken for Pennyfeather to retain the strike.

Palmer was greeted with a cover drive for four by Pennyfeather but then beat the outside edge next ball. However, the third ball was short and pummelled past mid-on for four more. The final ball was short and strongly pulled but Rivaldo Clarke at mid-wicket made the stop. Palmer now had 0 for 53 off 8 overs. 355 for 8 off 101 overs.

Louis decided to sweep Bishop’s first ball from the next over but could only send the high in the air, and Palmer running from short fine leg took a difficult catch over his head running towards the boundary. Louis was out for 1 and Bishop now had 7 for 85 from 31.1 overs.355 for 9.

Colin Archibald, with a first class hundred to his name, was in at number 11 and played out a wicket maiden so it was 355 for 9 off 102 overs

Palmer continued and Pennyfeather push him into the offside, and good running brought two runs, and the next ball was pushed into the leg side for a single. Palmer finally got some reward, when Archibald’s attempted hook came off the back of the bat, and keeper Bowen-Tuckett took the catch over his head. Archibald was out for a duck.

The Leeward Islands had been bowled out in the first hour of the morning for 358  off 102.3 overs. Pennyfeather remained 16 not out and Bishop finished with 7 for 85 from 32 overs. Palmer had 1 for 58 off 8.1 overs.

West indies Academy Innings

Opening the batting for the Academy were Trinidadian Justin Jagessar and St Lucian Ackeem Auguste, whilst Jeremiah Louis from St Kitts opened the bowling from the Airport Road End. Louis had toured England with the West Indies last summer but had to leave the tour with an injury so is still to make his debut for the Windies.

The first ball swung into Jagessar but had started out well wide of the off stump, so the batsman was able to leave. The third ball also swung in but was well down the leg side so was also left. The first runs came from the fifth ball as an attempted drive found a thick edge towards the third man boundary, but Henry was able to retrieve and keep it to two runs. 2 for 0 after the first over.

The left-handed Archibald opened the bowling from the Pavilion End to the left-hand Auguste with three slips and a gully, but his second ball was a short no-ball which Auguste smacked through mid-wicket for four. The next ball was also a no-ball which Auguste allowed to travel through to keeper Hamilton. Auguste flashed at the fourth ball of the over but fortunately for him failed to make contact. The next ball was another no ball which Auguste struck firmly down the ground where Forbes made a superb stop. However, Auguste had set off for a quick single, but his partner remained in his crease. Although the throw to the keeper’s end wasn’t as good as the stop, Hamilton was able to gather, and Auguste was run out by the length of the pitch for 4 runs. 9 for 1 off 1.4 overs.

The new batsman was captain Teddy Bishop who played out the last two balls of the over. Jagessar pushed the second ball from Louis into the gap in the covers, but the running was again poor but the second run was declined just in time to enable the batsmen to get back into their ground. Bishop got of the mark with a push off his leg and Louis’s radar was again faulty as another leg side delivery was steered to fine leg by Jagessar for another single. At the end of the 3 over it was 12 for 1.

Jagessar went fishing to Archibald’s first ball of the next over, as it angled across him. Archibald was bowling a good line, but Jagessar elegantly leant into a cover drive to take two from the fifth ball. The final ball of the over struck Jagessar on the pad and the umpire slowly raised his finger. The batsman might have been a little unlucky as it looked like the ball was angling wide of the off stump. However, there is no DRS in this competition, so Jagessar had to go for 6 runs with the score 14 for 2 off 4 overs.

The new batsman was Rivaldo Clarke, from Barbados, but he was at the non-striker’s end as Bishop drove Louis down the ground for a comfortable two. Louis was bowling well but Bishop was able to squeeze the final ball of the over through the covers for 2 more. 18 for 2 of 5 overs.

Clarke got of the mark from the first ball he faced with a lovely back footed cover drive to the boundary, and the third ball was tickled off his legs to fine leg for two more. Another glance to fine leg this time only brought a single. Bishop drove firmly at the next ball but although Louis made a diving stop at mid-off the batsmen were able to take a quick single.  Archibald strayed down the leg side again and Clarke this time was able to find the fine leg boundary. 31 for 2 off 6 overs

Louis began his next over with a no ball but then beat Clarke’s tentative prod outside off stump. The only run from the over was the no ball, as the score was now 32 for 2 after 7 overs.

Archibald continued to Bishop with a probing line on or outside off stump, with Bishop only able to score off the fifth ball with a single into the offside, so the Academy were now 33 for 2 of 8 overs.

With 8 minutes remaining to lunch and dark clouds starting to gather, The Leewards made a bowling change as debutant Pennyfeather replaced Louis, whose four overs had cost 11 runs. Pennyfeather was bowling a brisk medium pace, and his third ball moved away off the seam and got a faint edge through to Hamilton. The umpire raised his finger, but the batsmen couldn’t believe it and made his way very slowly off the pitch, looking back the umpire several times. The scorebook though showed that Bishop was out 8 and the Academy had slumped to 33 for 3.

In at number 5 was wicketkeeper Carlon Bowen-Tuckett, who nicely turned his second ball off his chest to the vacant midwicket gap for a single, and from the final ball of the over Clarke pushed two into a similar vacant area. 36 for 3 from 9 overs.

Spin was introduced for the final over before lunch as leg spinner Hayden Walsh replaced Archibald with a slip, short leg and a short extra cover. Bowen-Tuckett took a step down the wicket to play to the fielder at mid-off whilst the second ball appeared to be a googly with was well defended. An impressive first over ended as a maiden, and at the players went off for lunch, it was 36 for 3 from 10 overs, and the Academy trailed by 322 runs.