Three wickets in one over by Georgetown Cricket Club’s (GCC) Joshua Wade and a commanding 93 from Gavin Singh have Police facing an uphill task to take first innings points against the home team in the Heroes Cup first division two-day tournament.
Police, in search of 306 for first innings points, were stripped to 54-5 by the close of play yesterday at the Bourda Ground. The bulky Wade, at the end of day one, had figures of 4-34 as only Raul Browne was able to make any meaningful contribution to the Police total with 23; Dwayne Singh was unbeaten on seven.
Earlier, when the home side batted they made good their opportunity to bat first and piled on the pressure for 83 overs. The left-handed Singh, stroking 13 boundaries, was the main contributor and he received good support from Robin Bacchus and Clevon Hyman who made 47 (9×4) and 39 (4×4) respectively.
There were also some other scores in the 20s that helped to put the Police bowlers under pressure. In the end, Sheik Fazal was the most economical of the bowlers with 2-27 from his 11 overs.
Pernell London (2-46), Vishal Jaigobin (2-60) and Jason Heyliger (2-85) each chipped in with two wickets apiece while national under-19 left arm pacer Andre Stoll had 1-56 (11).
Over at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground national allrounder Christopher Barnwell and former West Indies under-19 opener Trevon Griffith scored half centuries against the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC). Barnwell scored a patient 68, which included five fours; Griffith stroked 53 and that knock was dotted with three fours and two sixes.
Further, Griffith shared in the largest partnership of his team with former national under-15 player Jahron Byron, who scored 40 (2×4). The duo put together 65 for the second wicket before their side closed their innings at 294 from 80 overs.
The team’s next big partnership came from Carlisle Barton (30) and Utom Munroe (28) who put on 46 for the ninth wicket. The side got a solid start of 33 and this was the pattern of the team’s batting until the end.
GNIC’s spinner Ejaz Mohammed took 4-72 from his 27 overs while Paul Persaud and Ryan Hercules had returns of 2-8 (4) and 2-67 (16) respectively; medium pacer Rawle Merrell had 1-73 (12).
When GNIC started their reply Quincy Ovid-Richardson started in fine form with a four down the wicket off Barnwell, who shared the new ball with Barton. However, with the introduction of the DCC’s most enterprising leg spinner Totaram Bishun, he dismissed Jermaine Moe for one.
The Woolford Avenue based team eventually ended the first day on 24-1 from nine overs with Ovid-Richardson unbeaten on 15. Bishun had miserly figures of 1-5 from his three overs.
