Veerasammy Permaul’s 13-wicket match-haul was not enough to take the Leon Johnson’s XI to victory against the Vishaul Singh’s XI as the final Cricket Guyana Inc. (CGI) organised four-day practice match ended in a draw yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Permaul, who picked up 8-96 in the first innings, snared an impressive 5-49 from 32.4 overs in the second ending with overall figures of 13-145. West Indies ‘A’ spinner Devendra Bishoo who recently returned from the A-team’s tour of Sri Lanka looked like the bowler of old as he spun webs around the opposition batters picking up 4-77 from 33 overs.
Bishoo and Permaul were responsible for the dismissal of the entire team apart from a run out provided by Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai. All-rounder Steven Jacobs, who picked up three wickets earlier in the match, returned to the middle with the bat and hit five fours and one six in his 40 sharing a 61-run partnership with middle-order batsman Chandarpaul Hemraj who played well for his 39. This was after the spinners tore through the batting order, reducing Singh’s XI to 151 all out 71 overs.
Chasing 208 for victory, Johnson’s XI were 74-3 with the skipper yet to come off the mark and Narsingh Deonarine stranded on 4. Jeremy Gordon, who was hostile from the first match, continued his good bowling ending with figures of 1-21 from eight overs while spin twins Raj Nannan (6-1-13-1) and Jacobs (6-2-13-1) each finished with four wickets in the match.
Johnson’s XI openers Trevon Griffith and Rajendra Chandrika set about the chase in a subtle manner after pacers Gordon and Raun Johnson once again bowled with accuracy and venom. Gordon, the former Guyana and Canada ODI player got the first breakthrough when he had a Chandrika beaten for pace, uprooting the right-hander’s off-stump for 15.
At 26-1, Barbadian Raymon Reifer came to the crease as he sought to make amends for his paltry first innings score while Griffith remained sedate as tea approached with the Johnson XI 36-1 trailing by a deficit of 172. The fast bowlers continued to operate after the tea break as the two left-handers looked to score quickly before the introduction of the slower bowlers. With the two in-form spinners on and operating in tandem, it was a matter of time to see who would claim the first wicket. It was Jacobs who was to draw first blood when he removed Griffith LBW while Nannan trapped Reifer leg-before for 15 leaving the two West Indies Test players in Johnson and Deonarine unbeaten when the match was called off by players and officials at 15:30hrs.
Earlier in the day, continuing from where they left off during yesterday’s last session of play, the West Indies spin twins bamboozled the middle order with their variations and their use of the crease, a skill exhibited by spinners on both teams during the two match series.
Opener Kandasammy Surujnarine (22) who resumed his innings on nine managed to strike one four before he was bowled by Permaul. Singh, who failed in the first innings after hitting a four then being caught off the very next ball was again dismissed by Permaul, the bowler responsible for his dismissal in the first innings.
Ex-West Indies ODI player Royston Crandon who missed out on a ton first innings, also became another Permaul victim when he provided a simple catch to Deonarine at mid-off leaving the score 42-4. Hemraj again got to a positive start and looked like the classical young player who can tango with the big boys as he displayed good shot selection and understanding of the situation before imploding minutes before lunch and being out LBW courtesy of Permaul as the Singh XI slumped to 123-6.
After the lunch break, Jacobs batted responsibly and took himself 10 runs short of a half-century before Bishoo struck with a deceptive delivery which induced a wild shot from the right-hander which brought about his demise after Chris Barnwell completed a good catch.
Ricardo Adams (9) and Kemo Paul (6) were then tasked with trying to negate the potency of the two spinners who were a few wickets away from being solely responsible for removing all the Singh’s XI batters.
Adams gave in first to the pressure when he was run out by Motie-Kanhai while Paul too buckled under the pressure and was easily bowled by Permaul. Amir Khan (10) came off the mark with a thumping hit off Bishoo which sailed over the long-off boundary for six but was unable to maintain his aggression and was mopped up by Permaul leaving Jason Sinclair stranded on one.
The first innings saw Singh’s XI racking up a huge 349 after Shimron Hetmyer struck a 100 and Royston Crandon contributed with 85. Deonarine score a defiant 65 for the Johnson XI after Nannan and Jacobs shared six wickets between themselves. Permaul, however was on top of his game throughout the match as he ended with his 13 wickets.
The Guyana Jaguars will now prepare to engage in the first of three home matches at the Providence Stadium when they collide with the Leeward Islands in the first 4-day match played next Friday as the Professional Cricket League (PCL) bowls off its 2014/15 Regional tournaments.
