Half centuries from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Clinton Pestano and Christopher Barnwell cemented Guyana Jaguars’ dominance of their first round clash against Windward Island Volcanoes with a lead of 294 runs heading into the final day of the first round of the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day tournament needing eight wickets to win.
The day and night affair at the Darren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia saw Jaguars entering the third day yesterday on 115-3 to declare on 310-4, facing 108.1 overs in the process. The day ended with Volcanoes at 54-2 after facing 20 overs, still trailing by 294 runs.
22-year-old Chanderpaul resumed on 29 and continued to finish unbeaten on 84, facing 334 balls and being the mainstay of the innings. The young left hander’s overnight partner, Pestano – who came in as a night watchman – showcased his talent with the bat to follow up his four wicket haul the previous day with a pulsating innings of 69 from 127 balls.
Pestano peppered the boundary ropes regularly but preferred the aerial route with five sixes and two fours. The pair shared in a 111-run stand for the fourth wicket before Pestano attempted another big shot but missed completely and had his off stump uprooted by Delron Johnson.
The pressure on the Volcanoes did not ease as Christopher Barnwell also cashed in on the flat track. The 31-year-old all-rounder became the fourth Guyanese to bring up a half century, scoring an unbeaten 61 from 80 deliveries including two fours and two sixes. Barnwell and Chanderpaul, who stroked just three boundaries, also shared in a healthy unbroken partnership of 85 before the defending champions declared.
Johnson, Shane Shillingford and Ray Jordan were the only ones to take a wicket in the batsman-dominated innings.
Volcanoes in their chase of 347 for victory, were immediately put on the back foot with Keon Joseph removing Tyrone Theophile for just six runs while Pestano continued his dream run by trapping the skipper, Kirk Edwards leg before wicket for a 44-ball four.
Volcanoes closed off the day with Taryck Gabriel looking solid on 33 not out inclusive of five boundaries along with Kavem Hodge on nine.
The final day’s play will begin at 14:00hrs today.
