By Calvin Roberts
@ Yorkshire Cricket Ground, Barbados
Compliments of: Smalta, Cummings Electrical, Lifetime Realty, P&P Insurance, Cellular Plus and Hanes (Guyana) Limited
A belligerent century from captain Andre Creary (118) coupled with superb assistance from wicket keeper Maverick Perry (80) enabled Jamaica to hold the trump against Guyana at the end of the first day of their fourth round match of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)/TCL-sponsored 2008 regional under-19 tournament at the Yorkshire Cricket ground yesterday.
At the close of play Jamaica, who are on a redemption path having lost their last two games despite taking first innings points declared their first innings close on 354-9 after being 83-5 at one stage.
Winning the toss and opting to take first strike in sultry conditions, Jamaica were quickly placed on the back foot by the fiery Keon Joseph.
He first accounted for Nick Blackwood who attempted to steer Joseph through the gully region but picked out vice captain Royan Fredericks instead at 10-1.
Two balls later it was 10-2 when new batsman Courtney Allen saw his gloves brushed by a short, rising delivery en route to wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble who took the catch over his head.
Opener Horace Miller offered some resistance by first striking Heyliger down the wicket for three, before miscuing a short ball over midwicket for four from Joseph’s fourth over .
Creary, who is in his third year, opened his account by hitting Heyliger through the extra cover region for four.
Joseph continued to torment the Jamaicans with his pace and finally accounted for Miller who was foxed out by the 16-year-old quickie.
After attempting an upper cut to a short delivery that kicked off from a good length, Miller attempted to pull another short delivery the very next ball but got an edge through to Bramble.
He made 16 from 32 balls and struck one six whilst batting for 50 minutes and at his demise, Jamaica were 44-3 in the 11th over.
The 50 was posted in the 13th over when Creary cut a short delivery from Herman Latcha through point for four but La Fleur struck back to claim the wicket of John Campbell who offered a low return catch to the bowler who accepted at 58-4.
Kennar Lewis joined his captain and got a wonderful drive off Latcha for four down to long off to push the score to 64-4. He then went down the wicket and struck Latcha inside out and over extra cover then back down the ground for consecutive boundaries to push his score to 17 and Jamaica to 80-4 in the 21st over.
But Latcha struck back 25 minutes before lunch when he had Lewis caught by Fredericks at midwicket as he attempted to hit the bowler out of the small ground. He contributed 19 to the team’s total of 83-5 at his dismissal counting three fours from the 22 balls he faced whilst batting for 16 minutes.
Creary, who struck Totaram Bishun through the midwicket region twice for fours to post the 100 for the team, was on 48 at the luncheon interval having struck seven fours in his team’s score of 101-5.
Joseph was the pick of the bowlers at lunch with 3-17 from six overs of fiery stuff.
Creary brought up his 50, the eighth at this level when he steered the fifth ball of the first over after lunch from Joseph and the 69th of his innings past the outstretched hands of Jonathan Foo at the second slip and down to the vacant third man region for his eighth four.
Perry joined his captain in the run scoring feast by turning a no ball from Joseph off his legs and down to fine leg for four, and watched as Creary dispatched two short deliveries from Bishun for boundaries to push the score to 124-5 in hazy conditions .
The two carried out operation rebuild with some cheeky singles and the odd boundary in between with Perry hitting La Fleur over mid on for six to push the score to 137-5.
Perry duly posted his maiden 50 at this level in style when he struck Latcha back over long on for six. He faced 94 balls and struck five fours and two sixes whilst batting for 119 minutes.
Creary then changed gear and motored to his second century at this level, first by pulling Bishun over midwicket for six and then pushing a short delivery to short cover, ambling through for the single. He batted for 212 minutes and struck 13 fours and one six from the 159 balls he faced.
His second 50 came off 90 deliveries and he struck a further five fours and one six.
The two batted through the entire post lunch session, adding 119 runs from 33 overs with the aid of 14 fours and three sixes.
The Guyanese must have missed the services of Joseph their ace fast bowler who sustained a sore hamstring and only bowled five overs for 23 runs.
The 17-year-old Creary, who played for the West Indies Under-19 at the last Youth World Cup in Malaysia, was then given a life when on 111 by Fredericks on the midwicket boundary off La Fleur.
However, La Fleur had his man two balls later when he holed out to Heyliger at mid on for 117. He faced 195 balls and struck 13 fours and two sixes whilst batting for 270 minutes adding 177 for the sixth wicket with Perry.
Perry followed soon after when, attempting to hit La Fleur off the back foot, he got an edge through to Bramble. He faced 181 balls and struck eight fours and two sixes whilst batting for 204 minutes. However their demise spelt happiness for their team and disaster for the Guyanese as the hard hitting Jermaine Blackwood and the diminutive Romeo Dunka punished the bowling with disdain.
Blackwood took a liking to La Fleur by hitting him for two sixes over midwicket to push the score to 286-7. Latcha replaced Foo at the Southern End of the ground and he too was dispatched with disdain by Blackwood over a wide long on for six.
Dunka refused to be left out of the runs scoring feast when he chipped in with an audacious pull to the midwicket boundary off Latcha and was at the other end when Blackwood steered Latcha past La Fleur at slip for four to post the 300.
Dunka was eventually caught by Heyliger at deep cover off Fredericks for a whirlwind 46 made from 34 balls and included five sixes and two fours ending an entertaining 87-run, eight-wicket partnership.
Blackwood followed two balls later caught by Sookdeo on the long off boundary for 39. He faced 50 balls and struck two fours and the same amount of sixes before the declaration came at 16:57hrs with Jamaica on 354-9 from 92.3 overs.
Both Gifton Wray and Donovan Nelson were unbeaten on three. Joseph who took 3-40 along with La Fleur (3-73), Fredericks (2-18) and Latcha (1-71) were the wicket-takers for Guyana who will begin their reply today weather permitting as at the declaration, there was dark clouds hovering overhead.