Their bowlers, led by a destructive spell of fast bowling from Keon Harding, set things up and their batting, lifted by a half-century from their captain and West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite, extended Barbados Pride’s lead over Trinidad & Tobago in the West Indies Championship in Bridgetown on Friday.

Harding, the leading bowler in the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup this past November, continued his fine form when he snared 5-57 from 17.3 overs and the Red Force were dismissed about an hour after lunch for 209 to give the Pride a first-innings lead of 34 on the second day of fifth-round matches in the Championship.

Brathwaite, the Pride captain, hit 58 and left-handed opener Shayne Moseley, his club-mate, was not out on 49.

The Pride opening pair gave the innings a firm foundation before the wickets of Brathwaite, lbw to pacer Terance Hinds, and West Indies teammate Shamarh Brooks, lbw to left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, fell inside the final half-hour to upset the Pride’s momentum.

When bad light stopped play 10 overs early, the Pride were ahead by 161 at 127 for 2 and looking to put themselves in an impregnable position on the third day, on Saturday.

Earlier, five wickets, three to Harding and two to West Indies pacer Kemar Roach, had Red Force rocking on 88 for six.

Resuming from their overnight total of 52 for one, Red Force were 71 for two, when their captain Yannick Ottley was caught behind off Harding for 12.

The real damage to the reply of the Red Force unfolded when they lost left-handed opener Jeremy Solozano for the top score of 50, Jason Mohammed for 11, as well as Denesh Ramdin and Yannic Cariah for ducks without addition to the total in the space of 19 balls.

The visitors got a few small stands from the lower order, led by 28 from Hosein and 27 from Uthman Muhammad, to fashion a respectable total before Harding brought the innings to a close when he claimed his fifth scalp of Muhammad.