Half centuries from Royston Crandon and Captain Chris Barnwell along with a scorching 44 from Steven Jacobs backed up by some lethal bowling, enabled the Guyana Jaguars to thump Vishaul Singh’s XI by 106 runs in the first of two 50-overs-a-side practice matches played at the Everest Cricket Club Ground yesterday.
The ex-West Indies player Crandon crunched six fours and two sixes in his top score of 75 while Barnwell muscled four fours in his 58.
Jacobs weighed in with a blistering 24-ball unbeaten 44 which featured one four and four sixes while Johnathan Foo scored 38 to help the Jaguars to a daunting 281 for 7 in 50 overs.
Seamer Paul Wintz’s three wickets were expensive as he went for
59 runs from his 10 allotted overs while Keon Joseph (1-38), Raun Johnson (1-11) and an expensive Amir Khan (1-70) managed to make inroads for Singh’s XI.
Singh’s XI innings in reply were off to a fiery start courtesy of opener Kevon Boodie who hammered 44 with seven authoritative fours and one six. Fellow opener Kandasammy Surujnarine stroked 22. Wicketkeeper Jason Sinclair 21 and the Captain Singh 29 were also among the runs as Singh’s XI scored 175 all out in 43. 5 overs.
Barnwell returned with the white ball to capture three wickets for 16 runs while Crandon took three wickets for 25 runs.
Spinner Devendra Bishoo took 2-14 while there was a wicket each for Jacobs and Veerasammy Permaul.
Boodie and Surujnarine had raced to an opening stand of 66 with Boodie the more destructive of the two. He smashed left-arm seamer Raymond Reifer all around the park during his 39-ball blitz as the batsman looked to latch onto anything short, wide or full and Reifer and Ronsford Beaton felt the long handle. Barnwell introduced himself into the attack and immediately reaped success when the rampaging Boodie held out to Foo at long-on. Jacobs then foxed Surujnarine with a beauty which disturbed the opener’s stumps as the Jaguars regained command of the innings.
Things got a bit worse for Singh’s XI when Chandrapaul Hemraj (07), attempted a defensive shot and was bowled all over the place by Barnwell while Narsingh Deonarine fell without scoring caught by Jacobs off the bowling of Barnwell to leave the score 77 for 4. Skipper Singh and Ricardo Adams (18) then joined forces to repair the innings. Adams was aggressive, especially against Jacobs whom he smashed for back-to-back fours in the 25th over. But Adams didn’t survive long as he was comprehensively bowled by Permaul.
Sinclair was next to go trapped by Bishoo for 21 while Crandon’s part-time off-spin proved to be effective when he outfoxed Singh who could only pop a delivery back into his hands, ending a one boundary, 66-ball knock of 29. Bishoo and Crandon then mopped up the tail when the last recognized batsman Robin Bacchus was bowled for four by Crandon.
Wintz and Khan were both knocked over for 11 runs apiece by Bishoo and Crandon which left former West Indies Under-19 spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai stranded on two when the innings ended.
Earlier in the day, openers Trevon Griffith (14) and Rajendra Chandrika (19) struck one and three fours respectively during their 33-run opening stand before Joseph and Johnson removed the pair. Reifer (06), was promoted to number three but was caught by Hemraj off Wintz before Barnwell and Crandon piloted their team to safety with their century partnership. The two batted with immense confidence and aggression as they took the opposition bowlers to the bleachers with some lusty blows which were complemented with good rotation of the strike.
Wintz interrupted the onslaught when he removed Crandon who was caught by Johnson bringing the big-hitting Foo to the middle. Foo seemed to be in a positive frame of mind and highlighted his innings with a massive six off Joseph which sailed over the Camp Road commentary box end.
After his 51-ball stay at the crease, Khan then had Foo caught by wicketkeeper Sinclair leaving the score 226 for 6. Wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble was bowled by Wintz for seven before Jacobs smoked 18 runs of Khan hitting three fours and one six to be in sight of a half century when the innings ended.
The second match will be a day/night encounter between the same sides as the team prepares to do battle in similar setting like that of their NAGICO Super 5o matches which are all day/night games. The match is scheduled to bowl off tomorrow at 13:00hrs at the Guyana National Stadium.
