Chandrapaul Hemraj picked up a five-wicket haul and followed up with a century at the Guyana Jaguars final practice match at the La Bonne Intention ground yesterday.
The out-of-favour West Indies opener, found form heading into the Regional Super50 as his left-arm spin strangled the batsmen in Johnson’s XI. The 27-year-old picked up five for 24.
Hemraj broke the second-wicket stand of 47 between Assad Fudadin and Tevin Imlach to get in the wicket column.
Fudadin was trapped leg before wicket after hitting three sixes and four fours on his way to 39 while Imlach edged a delivery to Leon Johnson at first slip off to depart for eight.
The Strathavon native also accounted for his first-class opening partner, Tagenarine Chanderpaul for seven after the batsman held out to Trevon Griffith at mid-off to reduce Vishaul Singh’s XI to 73 for six in the 16th over.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors all-rounder then made light work of Essequibo duo, Kemol Savory (00) and Ricardo Adams (04) to complete his five-for.
Singh’s XI salvaged a comeback througfh Romario Shepherd and Gudakesh Motie who added 54 runs for the last wicket. Shepherd stroked two sixes and two fours on his way to 43 not out while Motie carved three boundaries before being bowled for 31.
Kevin Sinclair (15) was the only other batsman to reach double figures while Richie Looknauth, Demitri Cameron, Ramaal Lewis, Antony Adams and Steven Sankar, each picked up one wicket.
Hemraj returned in the chase to smash the lone century of the three matches a belligerent 109, highlighted by eight sixes and eight fours.
His innings though, ended with a delicate return catch to Bishoo (2-27).
The left-handed opener, lost his opening partner, Griffith early on.
Griffith looked positive at the start of the innings with four boundaries before he was caught at mid-off off of Nial Smith (2-24) for 21.
Shimron Hetmyer then had his off-stump uprooted by Smith after facing just one ball.
A mix up between Johnson and Hemraj saw the captain run out without scoring as they slipped to 39 for three.
However, Barnwell and Hemraj added 88 runs for the fourth wicket as Barnwell found form with a responsible innings of 34, highlighted by two sixes and three fours.
Johnson’s XI duly reached their target of 177 in 30.4 overs with Hemraj on 93.
However, the practice continued and eventually saw the match coming to a close with Johnson’s XI reaching 209 for eight in 39.2 overs. Ricardo Adams and Smith ended with two wickets each for 14 and 24 runs respectively while Motie bagged one for 38.
