Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul yesterday grabbed his fifth 10-wicket haul to spin three-time defending champions, the Guyana Jaguars, to a 264-run victory over the Jamaica Scorpions to begin their Cricket West Indies 2017/2018 Regional four – day profession league on a winning note at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Scorpions, resuming on 61 for 2 with Assad Fudadin and Brandon King, the not out batsmen on 11 and 22 respectively and needing 422 more runs for an unlikely victory, reached 98 – 2 at lunch after two rain interruptions, one which caused a delayed start and the other which prompted the umpires to take an early lunch.
Fudadin and King during the shortened session, looked determined to quell the threats posed by spin duo of Permaul and Gudakesh Motie with aggression and caution.
Fudadin struck a delivery from Motie over his head for a six and drilled another delivery through the covers for four while King, who seemed quite relaxed, negotiated the spin well and employed the sweep shot to good effect to end the session on 35 while his partner’s tally was 34.
The battle shifted the Jaguars way after the interruption when King was caught at the gully region by a diving Keemo Paul for 35 to give Permaul his second wicket of the innings.
Paul was in the action once again effecting the run out of skipper Paul Palmer (1) with the score 99 – 4.
He then joined the attack from the bottom end and pegged away outside Fudadin’s off stump and though guided for a few boundaries by the big bearded man got his revenge when Fudadin lost concertation and uppishly drove a delivery to Motie at cover.
His innings of 42 spanned 127 deliveries and included four fours and one six.
It was 115 for six when Paul struck again to remove Romaine Morrison (2) who was caught in the slip cordon to leave the innings in tatters.
Jaguars at the point, seem set to roll over their counterparts who had other ideas and staged a fightback, courtesy of an 85-run partnership between Fabina Allen and Dennis Bulli which dragged out the inevitable.
Allen stroked nine fours and two sixes to record a polished half-century, taking his tally to 64 at tea while Bulli reached 20 with the overall score sitting on 196 – 6.
Jaguars, after the break, took the new ball in overcast conditions and immediately found reward when Shepherd uprooted Allen’s off pole for a counterattacking, hard-fought 66 to leave the score 202 – 7.
Bulli continued to resist after Allen’s demise and struck a few boundaries in the process before he was caught and bowled by Motie for a dogged 33 from 111 balls.
Permaul then wrapped up the innings by capturing the final two wickets, ending Scorpions innings with the score on 219.
Permaul ended with 4 – 55 for match figures of 10 for 84.
Paul picked up 2 -25 while Motie (1-49), Shepherd (1-57) and Sherfane Rutherford (1-25) all contributed to Jaguars’ opening triumph.
