A resolute half-century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept the Guyana Cricket Board Developmental XI afloat at the end of the second day’s play of the Inter-County competition at the Wales Community Development Centre ground.
Heading into today’s third day’s play, the Developmental XI trail opponents Berbice by 184 runs.
Replying to Berbice’s first innings score of 418 all out, the Developmental XI , led by a class unbeaten knock of 77 from Guyana and West Indies master batsman Chanderpaul, were 234-6 at the close of play.
Left-handed maestro Chanderpaul’s innings contained four boundaries as well as the typical nudges and flicks through the gaps. He batted for nearly the entire day, forging an unbeaten 68-run partnership with wicket–keeper Kemol Savory who struck seven stylish fours in his unbeaten 34.
National pacer Raun Johnson (2-24), had earlier accounted for the wickets of the West Indies Under-19 pair of Tage Chanderpaul (5) and the temperamental Shimron Hetmyer (21) who were both bowled by the tall fast-bowler.
Middle-order batsman Chanderpaul Hemraj (11) failed to convert once again and was bowled by left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (2-62) reducing the score to 77 for 3 at lunch. Resuming his innings after lunch, Skipper Steven Jacobs played well for his 32 before he attempted a shimmy down the track and was stumped by wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble off the bowling of his opposite designation Narsingh Deonarine leaving the score at 60 for 4.
Following the top-order collapse, GCB XI star all-rounder Kemo Paul then sought to repair things with the dependable Shiv Chanderpaul. During a brief passage of productivity the youngster and the old soldier took their team to 152 for 4 at the tea interval.
The session after tea saw Paul being the obvious aggressor of the two, continuing to open up and play his shots. He struck a total of seven fours in his innings of 40 before he was yorked, playing all around a delivery from speedster Keon Joseph while Ashkay Homraj was bowled by Permaul for 5.
Meanwhile, the elder Chanderpaul not breaking a sweat or showing any signs of discouragement despite the loss of partners around him, continued to milk all the bowlers, playing the pace of Joseph and the spin of Deonarine and Permaul with relative ease.
The champion batsman soon brought up his half-century after batting for nearly the entire day while the more aggressive Savory played with much confidence and poise, some of which came from batting with the legend who could be seen speaking to him during overs.
The two carried on with Savory being the more adventurous and Chanderpaul applying himself as normal.
The two took their team to within 32 runs of avoiding the follow-on. The match continues today at 9:00hrs.
