Spearheaded by a century from Tagenarine Chanderpaul in addition to penetrative bowling, Guyana kept Trinidad and Tobago at bay and moved closer to claiming a 13th West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-19 title as matches continued yesterday.
Clashing at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Bourda, West Indies U-19 player Chanderpaul was the main force behind
Guyana’s dominance in the first session after scoring his second century (his first was against the Leeward Islands last year) at this level. His unbeaten 132 came off 374 deliveries and contained 12 fours and a solitary six while batting for 480 minutes. Chanderpaul’s effort propelled Guyana to 310-9 in 126 overs before the team declared at lunch.
Meanwhile, after the break, Guyana’s pace bowlers Kemo Paul’s and Keon Morris’ lively bowling on the docile track created problems for the opposition’s batsmen. Paul bowled short and fast connecting a few blows to the batsmen’s bodies while Morris was fast and full in length.
Morris, who was replaced by Nial Smith after the first round, got the breakthrough for Guyana. He removed Amir Jangoo (who scored a century and a half century in the second round) for eight when the batsman edged a ball to the keeper. Following Jangoo’s dismissal, Brian Christmas entered the crease and was greeted by a hostile Paul who bowled a barrage of short balls at the former West Indies U-19 batsman.
Christmas (6) managed to slice a ball from Paul to the boundary in his short stay before Balchand Baldeo accounted for his wicket. Skipper Jeremy Solozano was next out as Sharaz Ramcharan claimed his wicket after he reached 23 from 76 balls.
The visitors who went to tea at 51-4 were dismissed in the final session for 117 in 61.3 overs. Jameel Manniram and Anderson Phillip with 23 runs each were the only other batsmen to pass 20. Steven Sankar, Damien Waldron and Ramcharan were the chief bowlers for Guyana with three wickets each.
With a lead of 193, the hosts enforced the follow-on. However, due to heavy drizzles, the day’s play was called off a few minutes after 5pm.
Earlier, after resuming the day on 228-5, with Chanderpaul on 53 and Paul on 13, Guyana slipped to 235-7. Paul and Kemol Savoury were the batsmen who were removed early in that first session. Waldron (13) and Morris (5 not out) added 48 and an unbroken 27 runs respectively with Chanderpaul. However, the highlight of that session was Chanderpaul’s century.
Bowling for the visitors, Samuel Roopnarine led the way with three wickets while Akeil Seetal and Justin Joseph claimed two wickets each.
Guyana will have to restrict Trinidad to a score under 193 for an innings victory and a possible chance at claiming the title on the final day.
