RICHARDSON
CASTRIES, St Lucia CMC:
CENTURIES BY England 'A' captain Vikram Solanki and wicketkeeper Chris Read offset a five-wicket haul by West Indies 'A' fast bowler Andrew Richardson to give the visitors a handsome lead at the end of the third day of their second unofficial Test match at the Beausejour Cricket Ground yesterday.
Richardson remained the most impressive and penetrative of the West Indies 'A' bowlers with figures of five for 89 from 22 overs.
Tonge, one for 43, and Dave Mohammed, one for 71, were the other wicket-takers for the regional side, which had secured a 20-run first innings advantage when they totalled 221 on Saturday in reply to England 'A's first innings score of 201.
At stumps, England 'A' were 368 for eight in their second innings - an overall lead of 348 - thanks mainly to a dominant sixth-wicket partnership of 169 between Solanki (127) and Read, who smashed an aggressive 107. Solanki had started the day on 12, partnering Ed Joyce who was on 27.
They took the score from an overnight 60 for two to 88, when Joyce lobbed a catch to Richard Kelly off Richardson and departed for 45.
Jamie Dalrymple, being watched by his parents, joined Solanki and the pair took the score to 151 without further loss at lunch.
West Indies 'A' then experienced their best period of play for the day just after the lunch interval as Dalrymple was caught by wicketkeeper Patrick Browne, pushing at pacer Gavin Tonge for 29, and Rikki Clarke was neatly stumped by Brown off left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed before he had scored.
