Spinner Eon Hooper bagged five wickets for Chris Barnwell XI who head into the final day of the Guyana Jaguars 4-Day practice game at Everest, with a 20 run lead over Vishaul Singh’s XI.
Chasing Barnwell’s XI first innings score of 325, Singh’s XI had ended the second day’s play on 181-3, trailing their opponents by 144 runs with Raymon Reifer and Shivnarine Chanderpaul on 68 and 49 respectively.
When play began yesterday morning, Reifer was dismissed after adding just one run to his score, falling to Hooper whose five wicket haul also included top-scorer Chanderpaul who batted well for his 74.
Impetus from the middle-order batters; Anthony (27) Bramble, Sherfane Rutherford (24) and Akshaya Persaud (37) helped Singh’s XI add an additional 187 runs before they were bowled out for 368 in their first innings, gaining a lead of 43 runs.
Batting a second time, Barnwell’s XI were 63-2, 20 runs ahead and Kevon Boodie and Chandrapul Hemraj the overnight pair at the crease.
Openers Kandasammy Surujnarine (26) and Robin Bacchus (13) were the two wickets to fall to left-arm spinner Anthony Adams.
After snatching up three wickets in the first innings, Reifer returned with bat in hand to team up with the veteran Chanderpaul and the pair’s century stand helped their team gain some momentum during the chase.
While Reifer reached his 50 on the second day, Chanderpaul recorded his half-century yesterday morning.
Despite Hooper’s tremendous efforts with the ball, the knocks provided by Rutherford, Persaud and Bramble proved to be priceless in the end as they built nicely on the Chanderpaul/Reifer partnership, frustrating the opposition bowlers.
Bramble and Rutherford were bowled by seamer Romario Shepherd and Hooper respectively just when they would have been looking to step on the gas.
Guyana Jaguars breakout spinner from last season, Gudakesh Motie also claimed a wicket, that of Persaud, who was out caught while Hooper removed Clinton Pestano for a gritty 18, leaving last man Adams stranded on 3.our action commences from 9:30hrs.
