The West Indies suffered a calamitous lower-order collapse on Sunday to present Easterns with a genuine chance of winning their four-day tour match at Willowmoore Park.
The Windies lost their final five wickets for the addition of just 27 runs to be all out for 263, a lead of 284.
The home side, however, made a disastrous start in chasing down that winning target.
By stumps on day three, Easterns had managed to whittle that lead down to 256, having staggered to 28 for the loss of Dylan Jennings and Zander de Bruyn.
Jennings, having made three in the first innings, prodded his first ball back to Adam Sanford to be out for a royal duck.
De Bruyn was then castled for 15 by Ravi Rampaul in what proved to be the final over of the day after bad light brought a premature close to play.
The Easterns run chase will resume on Monday with Andre Seymore on seven and Daryll Cullinan, who has yet to get off the mark.
Although the Easterns’ tail wagged enthusiastically in the first innings to restrict the tourists’ lead to 21, Cullinan probably holds the key to Easterns’ success.
The Windies, however, should have batted Easterns completely out of the match.
Against a severely limited Easterns attack, the Windies had moved to 236 for five when Gareth Flusk struck.
The left-armed Flusk, who bowled just 10 overs in the first innings, first rid the homeside of Vasbert Drakes for 37. Five balls later, Dave Mohammed edged Flusk to Pierre de Bruyn at slip as the collapse gathered momentum.
With just the tail to come, and the new ball having been taken, stand-in captain Ramnaresh Sarwan attempted to hit out.
Having made 72, however, he tried to cut Morne Morkel but succeeded only in top-edging the delivery to Cullinan at first slip.
The rather prized wicket was the first captured by the debutant 19-year-old Morne Morkel after he was pasted in the first innings.
He then bowled Adam Sanford for six before his elder brother, Albie, wrapped up the innings by rearranging Rampaul’s stumps. — Sapa