Guyana Jaguars yesterday duly recorded a six-wicket win over Trinidad and Tobago Red Force on the third day of their 10th round match in the Cricket West Indies Regional Four-Day Championships at Providence to inch closer to a fifth consecutive title triumph.
Resuming on yesterday’s day-night affair on 69-2, requiring 93 more runs for an outright win, the four-time consecutive champions edged closer to their fifth title by reaching 163-4 from 53.4 overs before dinner.
They now await the outcome of the Leeward Islands Hurricanes/Barbados Pride encounter to see who will be declared champions.
As it stands the Leeward Islands need 23 more points (from a maximum of 24) from their final round game to pip the Jaguars for the title.
Yesterday, the Jaguars owed their dominant position due to a 111-run, third-wicket partnership between captain, Leon Johnson and opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
The pair resumed their partnership from the previous day on 57 and Johnson duly capped off the season with his 37th First Class half century.
He commenced the day on 37 and went on to finish on 76 when he was adjudged leg before wicket (LBW) to off-spinner, Brian Charles. During the captain’s two hour and five minutes stay at the crease, he faced 125 deliveries and smashed 14 boundaries, two of which were cut to backward point from Charles to bring up his landmark.
At the other end, Chanderpaul steered the side over the line with a responsible knock of 43 not out, decorated with six boundaries. He batted for three hours and 20 minutes.
With the target within reach, Christopher Barnwell tried to finish the match in a hurry. His first two scoring shots reached the boundary but then a spectacular juggling catch from Anderson Phillip at mid-wicket ended his innings of 12.
However, Bramble finished proceedings with his second six crashing into the Players pavilion at the long on boundary. The leading run getter for Guyana had previously pulled leg-spinner, Imran Khan for a six several flights up into the Red Stand at the mid-wicket boundary. He finished on 20 not out.
Romario Shepherd was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match after taking a career best match haul of 8-76.
After the match, the successful captain pointed out that it was good to end the season on a high as well as get a few runs under his belt after a slow start to the season.
Red Force captain, Denesh Ramdin credited Jaguars for their dominant style of play and noted had they gotten a few more wickets after setting 162 for them to win, the game could have gone differently.
Jaguars ended the competition at the top of the point’s standings with 154.2 points from their 10 matches.
