Jonathan Foo records League’s first century while Veerasammy Permaul and Ameer Khan snatche five-wicket hauls as teams fight for 1st Day dominance in the inaugural GCB/CGI Jaguars 3-Day League which got off to a solid start yesterday.
The League, which seeks to uphold the highest professional standards, where players are committed to team goals and other task related player development assignment, saw the commencing of four matches at the venues of Tuschen, Everest, Enterprise and Young Warriors grounds. The league which seeks to model the cricket development methodology utilized by the WICB Professional Cricket League, thereby widening the pool of players locally who can participate in a purposeful and meaningful career path, involves the teams of Upper Corentyne, Lower Corentyne, West Berbice, East Coast Demerara, Georgetown, Upper Demerara/East Bank, West Demerara and Essequibo.
The inaugural Jaguars 3 Day League, which has already created a hype among cricket players and stimulated a lot of interest among the cricketing public, witness some good team and individual performances yesterday, with Jonathan Foo stroking an unbeaten century while fellow Albion player Veersammy Permaul and East Coast Demerara leg spinner Amir Khan took five wicket hauls for the respective teams to highlight the first day of the inaugural GCB/CGI Jaguars 3 Day League.
Over at the Everest Cricket Club ground, Upper Demerara/East Bank who won the toss and elected to bat, soon found themselves 39 for 1, with the fall of Trevon Griffith’s wicket, who spending an hour at the crease, was caught at mid-wicket by Andrew Light Jr. for 9, off the bowling of national under 19 fast bowler Ronaldo Alimohamed. Tevin Imlack then followed caught behind by wicket keeper Dexter Solomon, off the Georgetown’s Captain Christopher Barnwell.
Ryan Shun was then dismissed for a well compiled 42 caught by Christopher Barnwell from the bowling of off spin bowler Gajanan Suknanan to leave the score at 68 for 3. Mark Rhobe was then run out for 10, after a mix up with Sherfane Rutherford, after Rhobe hit the ball to mid-on and set off of a run but did not receive a favorable response from his batting partner. The run out left the Upper Demerara/East Bank score at 92 for 4 and subsequently 92 for 5 as Steven Jacobs when on 18 chipped down the pitch and smashed the ball back to the bowler, Devon Lord, who gracefully accepted the caught and bowl opportunity. Then national under-19 player Sherfane Rutherford when on 18 left alone good length delivery from fast bowler Christopher Barnwell, only to find his off stump flying out of the ground. The dismissal put Georgetown in the driver’s seat with Upper Demerara/East Bank seemingly reeling at 113 for 6.
After lunch, Danny Narayan and Ershad Ali consolidated and brought some recovery to the Upper Demerara/East Bank team with a much needed partnership of 74 runs, before Danny Narayan was caught by Gajanan Suknana off Devon Lord for a well compiled 50. Budhan Baksh was then LBW by Devon Lord for duck. Thereafter, Gajanan Suknanan had Totaram Bishun and Colin Benn bowled from consecutive deliveries to close the Upper Demerara/East Bank first innings at 192.
Devon Lord and Gajanan Suknanan were the best bowlers for Georgetown with figures of 3-46 and 3-35 respectively while Barnwell support well with two wickets, Ronaldo Alimohamed claimed one wicket, while the other wicket fell via the run out route. Andre Stoll and Kellon Carmichael added get support to the bowlers, though they both went wicketless.
With 21 overs remaining in the days play, Robin Bacchus and Andrew Light Jr. stepped to the crease in an effort to enhance Georgetown’s dominance over the first day’s play. However, Georgetown found themselves facing an uphill battle as they closed the first day’s play on 65 for 3. Andrew Light Jr. was adjudged LBW to Steven Jacobs, Robin Bacchus was caught at mid-on after playing and uncharacteristic shot, off the bowling of Colin Benn and Ovid Richardson experienced a rather bizarre dismissal when he was given out caught behind after a clear appeal for stump was turned down by the square leg umpire, a not out decision which prompted another appeal by the said players to the standing umpire for caught behind for the said delivery of which the fielders then received a favorable out decision. The not out batsmen for Georgetown are Kwame Crosse, Captain Christopher Barnwell on 28.
Playing at the Tuschen Sports ground, Essequibo who won the toss and decided to take first strike, found themselves in a spot of bother, as they were dismissed for just 101 with only Anthony Adams and Parmesh Parsotram offering any resistance with 33 and 24 respectively. Leading the way for Albion-New Amsterdam was Guyana and West Indies left arm spinner Veerssamy Permaul who bagged 5 for 23 while he was well supported by national pacer Raun Johnson who bowled impressively to claim 4 for 30. Nial Smith took the other wicket to fall.
In reply, Lower Corentyne were 173 for 2 at stumps with Jonathan Foo stroking an entertaining 106 not out to lead the reply. His century has been decorated with 10 fours and 7 massive sixes as he showed great confidence having recently represented the Jamaica Tallawahs in their successful Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) campaign. It means, that Lower Corentyne will start the second day today with a lead of 62 and eight wickets in hand.
At Enterprise Community Development Centre ground, Amir Khan has captured five wickets while Bhaskar Yadram and Gavin Boodwah made fifties to give East Coast Demerara a first innings’ run lead. Batting first West Demerara were rattled for 111 in 36 overs, with Raymond Reifer and Akshaya Persaud making 34 and 24 respectively. Khan made constant inroads into West Demerara’s innings to snare five wickets.
In reply East Coast was 136-5 when play ended with Raymon Reifer already grabbing three wickets while Yadram and Gavin Boodwah recorded fifties.
At Young Warriors Community Centre ground in Cumberland Canje, West Berbice made 222 all out against Upper Corentyne. Quacey McPherson 50, Andrew Dutchin 41 and West Indies Under-19 captain Shimron Hetmyer 36 were the principal scorers. Former Guyana under-19 skipper Shawn Perreira led his team’s bowling with 3-42 while Keon Sinclair and Clinton Pestano got two wickets each. Nigg/ Skeldon ended the day on 55-1 in reply with season campaigner Assad Fudadin on 26 not out.
All matches will resume at 09:30 today at the said venues.