Off-spinner Steven Jacobs picked up six wickets for Leon Johnson’s XI to help restrict Robin Bacchus’ XI to 141 all out on the first day of the second Guyana Jaguars four-day practice match played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence yesterday.
Jacobs snatched 6-46 on a good first day Providence track where Johnson was outstanding with his captaincy as he used his bowlers well and maintained good field settings. Bacchus was the top-scorer with a defiant 45 an innings which included eight fours while spinner Raj Nannan (25) and wicket-keeper Dexter Solomon (19) were the other primary scorers.
Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie picked up 2-18 while pacers Chris Barnwell and Keon Joseph ended with a wicket each for Johnson’s side.
Johnson’s XI at stumps were 76-2, facing a deficit of 65 runs with opener Assad Fudadin (26) set to resume his innings today. Shimron Hetmyer (43) clobbered a number of boundaries (along with Fudadin) some of which came from crisp drives and punches while others came courtesy of poor slip cordon fielding which gave both batters extra lives.
The pacer Johnson produced a beauty which induced an attempted hook by Hetmyer who was caught by Ronsford Beaton at mid-off while Paul Wintz had night-watchman Motie trapped lbw for duck.
Earlier, after electing to bat first upon winning the toss, openers Bacchus and Tage Chanderpaul (03) looked to set the tone on a sunny morning. The skipper acquired the first two fours of the innings and also hogged the lion’s share of the opening stand of 38 before Barnwell, operating from the Media Center End, had Chanderpaul pinned LBW, ending his painstaking 38-ball stay.
Kandasammy Surujnarine (03) fell cheaply after Jacobs forced the right-hander to push a delivery into the waiting hands of Hetmyer who was perfectly placed at forward short-leg. A failed premeditated advance down the track to the off-spinning Jacobs resulted in Tevin Imlach (08) being stumped by wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble despite a few fumbles upon collecting the ball.
Bacchus’ XI went into the lunch break on 57-3 with the Captain on 37 and Kevon Boodie on 1. However, during the first over after the lunch break, the Jacobs show began as the right-arm slow bowler maintained the same field setting which brought him his first wicket and the move paid off when Boodie fell in similar fashion to Surujnarine, caught by Hetmyer at short-leg.
Barbadian Javon Searles (06) opened his account with the first six of the match off Jacobs but the former West Indies Under-19 skipper got his man shortly after when the right-hander was caught by Johnson who placed himself comfortably at leg-slip.
The huge blow dealt by the former Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Skipper came a few overs after his third wicket when Bacchus, who played the off-spinner with relative ease through the day, looked to play a cut shot but picked out Fudadin at backward-square who held onto a good catch.
Jacobs then picked up his sixth wicket when Kemo Paul (05) failed to keep the ball down and was caught by Johnson who continued to occupy the leg-slip position, a blow which left Bacchus’s team dangling at 78-7. The team’s hundred came up with George and Nannan at the crease but the latter had his stumps uprooted by a beauty from Joseph, putting them into further trouble.
Steven Sankar (17) was caught behind off Motie who then had Solomon out, bringing the innings to an end, leaving Wintz stranded on 1.
Day two’s action will continue today at 9:30hrs.
