By Delvon Mc Ewan
Guyana were well placed after contrasting half centuries from Ashkay Homraj and Tagenarine Chanderpaul on the opening day of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-19 Three-Day Tournament here, yesterday.
Played at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, Chanderpaul’s patient knock of 65 combined with an attacking innings of 62 from 67 deliveries by Homraj saw the locals posting 270 all out after they won the toss and opted to bat.
The Leeward Island were 21-1 after 10 overs at close of play.
Chanderpaul, who represented the West Indies Under-19 team at this year’s Youth World Cup, stablised the top order while Homraj dominated the lower order batting.
Guyana ended the first session at 72-2 with Chanderpaul on 25 and Balchand Baldeo on 19. Shimron Hetmyer (05) the other West Indies U-19 player in the squad and skipper Brian Sattaur (10) were the batsmen dismissed.
Hetmyer was taken at third slip after playing a reckless shot off pacer Jeremiah Louis while Sattaur was caught by the second slip fielder off Shaquille Martina. Baldeo would have been the third victim for the Leewards if the wicketkeeper had held on to a catch off left arm medium pacer Colin Archibald.
After the lunch interval Baldeo was brilliantly caught by a diving Alzarri Joseph at first slip to become off spinner Martina’s second victim. Sharaz Ramcharan, who took six deliveries before getting off the mark, joined Chanderpaul and the pair increased the scoring rate. Ramcharan hit two effortless boundaries while Chanderpaul stroked a pair of classical boundaries through the covers before he struck left arm spinner Therone Bussue for a straight six in an over that went for 10 runs.
Leewards skipper Jeremiah Louis then decided to switch Martin from the Media Centre End to the Pavilion End which paid off immediately as Ramcharran was bowled playing back to a straight ball that skidded on to his stumps. Shortly after Ramcharan’s dismissal, Chanderpaul brought up his half century with an aggressive straight drive that went crashing into the boundary for four. After passing the milestone Chanderpaul went into overdrive scoring much faster before he was caught at mid-off off the accurate and effective Martina. Chanderpaul’s innings came off 137 balls, contained eight fours and a six and lasted 197 minutes.
Kemo Paul (26 from 17 balls) joined Homraj and smashed his first delivery a full toss from Martina through cover for four. Paul, who recently returned from Trinidad and Tobago where he scored two half centuries for the Guyana U17 team, continued in similar fashion as he muscled four more boundaries within the next two overs of his cameo. However, his aggression caused his demise as he fell driving expansively at Joseph, providing the wicketkeeper with a straight forward catch.
Like Paul, Homraj had attacked the bowlers from the beginning of his innings. An exquisite cover drive by the right handed batsman who hails from Berbice off Joseph was a treat to watch. However, the lanky fast bowler Joseph responded with a barrage of short pitched deliveries that intensified the battle between himself and the batsman.
Already with a century (against Winward Islands in last year’s tournament in St. Kitts and Nevis) at this level, Homraj, who scored rapidly throughout his knock was given a life when he was dropped off Martin in the final over before tea.
Guyana, who went to tea at 204-6 with Homraj on 41 and Kemol Savoury on eight, lost Savoury after the break as he failed to add to his score. Homraj, though, batted sensibly to reach his fifty and after that upped the tempo once more.
Damion Waldron (22) provided more resistance to the end with stubborn batting at number nine before the Leeward Islands bowlers eventually bowled out Guyana for 270 in 77 overs.
Martina bowled impressively to finish with figures of 5-86 from 31 overs while receiving support from Bussue who claimed 2-48 for the Leewards.
In reply to Guyana’s first innings total, Leewards Island reached 21-1 with Dion Westle (01) the batsman back in the pavilion after being caught at mid-off off the bowling of Ramcharan. Ross Powell and Martina will resume batting tomorrow on 14 and nought respectively.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jul 22, CMC – Scoreboard on the opening day of the opening round match between Guyana and Leeward Islands in the Regional Under-19 Tournament at the National Stadium on Tuesday:
GUYANA 1st Innings
S. Hetmyer c Martina b Louis 5
T Chanderpaul c Scott b Martina 65
*B. Sattaur c Joseph b Martina 10
B. Baldeo c Joseph b Martina 20
S. Ramcharran b Martina 10
A. Homraj c and b Bussue 62
K. Paul c wkpr Hingorani b Joseph 26
+K. Savory c and b Bussue 8
S. Sankar not out 32
D. Waldron c and b Martina 2
K. Morris c Carty b Archibald 9
Extras (b11, lb1, w2 nb7) 21
TOTAL (all out, 77.1 overs) 270
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-42, 3-74, 4-108, 5-133, 6-173, 7-207, 8-248, 9-255
Bowling: Joseph 14-1-38-1, Louis 8-1-28-1, Martina 31-8-86-5, Archibald 9.1-1-38-1, Bussue 13-2-48-2, Scott 1-0-7-0, Carty 1-0-13-0
LEEWARDS 1st Innings
D. Weste c Morris b Baldeo 1
R. Powell not out 14
S. Martina not out 0
Extras (b4, nb2) 6
TOTAL (1 wkt, 10 overs) 21
To bat: *J. Louis, A. Joseph, C. Archibald, T. Bussue, K. Carty, +M. Hingorani, K. Scott, A. Hodge.
Fall of wickets: 1-10
Bowling: Paul 4-1-14-0, Baldeo 5-3-3-1, Waldron 1-1-0-0
Position: Leewards trail by 249 runs with nine first innings wickets standing
Points-to-date: Guyana 4, Leewards 3.3
Toss: Guyana
Umpires: C. Alfred, D. Butler
