Akshaya Persaud, Ricardo Adams and Steven Sankar stole the spotlight during the first Jaguars practice match yesterday at La Bonne Intention.
Despite rain forcing an hour delay to the start of the match, five overs were lost and another shower further reduced the match to a 35-over per side affair with Johnson’s XI beating Hetmyer’s XI by two wickets.
Johnson’s XI won the toss and inserted Hetmyer’s XI to bat who made 152 all out in 33.3 overs.
Johnson’s XI reached their revised target of 143 in 30 overs with two wickets in hand.
Leading the way for Hetmyer’s XI was the 23-year-old left-arm batsman, Persaud, who anchored the innings with an unbeaten 51. The middle order strokemaker showed his temperament to pick the loose balls as he caressed three fours and two sixes, one of which was thumped over long-off, off of left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie.
Hetmyer’s side was rocked early by the pace of Tucber park duo, Romario Shepherd and Nial Smith who reduced them to 53 for four by the 14th over. Smith hit the perfect length that whisked past a defending Kevlon Anderson (07) and clipped the bails on its way through while Shimron Hetmyer (02) also was caught in two minds as he edged a zipping delivery to Johnson at first slip that ricocheted off his wrist but his awareness saw him snatching the catch with his left hand.
Hetmyer’s XI were in recovery mode with Vishaul Singh (15) and Bhaskar Yadram (00) falling just before rain stopped play, they were in trouble at 83 for six.
Nevertheless, Persaud, along with Adams, injected life into the innings by adding 64 runs for the seventh wicket. Adams took a liking to Devendra Bishoo whom he pummeled for four sixes and a four on his way to 47 off of 27 balls.
When Adams was bowled by Shepherd, the West Indies seamer made light work of the lower order to end with four for 24 while Smith returned three for 22.
In the chase, former Jamaica Scorpions’ Trevon Griffith (19) and Assad Fudadin (04) began cautiously until Kevin Sinclair found the edge of Fudadin’s bat to open the door for Sankar.
The 26-year-old leg-spinner troubled the middle order, removing the linchpins of the order in Johnson and Christopher Barnwell off of successive deliveries. After a late assault from Jonathan Foo, Sankar ended with four for 39.
Foo went on to make a brisk 35, laced with four sixes. He added 60 for the sixth wicket with Tevin Imlach, who played a patient knock on his way to 28, highlighted by one six and one four.
After the match, head coach Esuan Crandon said he was not too impressed with the way the batsmen gifted their wickets away but was satisfied with the way the bowlers handled the conditions.
“I think it’s not what I would probably love to see from our batsmen in particular. I thought most of the batters could have shown a bit more fight and put a price on their wickets. I didn’t see much batters go out there and dig in and have much purpose and responsibility and take more account of the end results, it was a good opportunity for the batters to get a little more time out there,” Crandon said.
Zooming in on the batting, Crandon took note of the performances of both Persaud and Imlach, stating, “it shows the growth that you would have seen from Imlach and Akshaya, two young players who have been around the set up for a while and it’s good to see them fight it out and get a decent score under their belts.”
Of the bowlers he noted, “The bowlers would have held their own, utilized the conditions well and so on so we are really happy with what I am seeing with the bowlers, yes there is room for improvement but they would have done really well today.”
Crandon was delighted to see Sankar among the wickets while revealing that it was good to see Shepherd, who has recently recovered from Covid-19 coming out and performing well.
