Johnathan Carter struck a defiant 89 for the Barbados Pride who were 166-3 in their second innings as the visitors mounted a decent fightback against the Guyana Jaguars, trailing by 67-runs heading into the final day of the WICB/PCL Regional 4-day match played at Providence.
Carter, the West Indies left-hander, hit 12 fours in his half-century before he gave away his wicket minutes before stumps but 29-year-old Shamarh Brooks, the in-form batsman for the Pride, was on 30 and night-watchman Miguel Cummings yet to score.
Earlier, the Pride had crashed to a first innings score of 104 all out in reply to the Jaguars 337 which was set up by Vishaul Singh’s 121. The slower bowlers did the trick for Guyana yet again as the spinners Steven Jacobs (2-18), Gudakesh Motie (3-19) and Veerasammy Permaul who grabbed 3-41 upon his return to the team following his injury, proved to be a handful for the Barbadian batsmen on a third day pitch.
Batting a second time, opener Kyle Corbin (24) and Kemar Brathwaite (15), looked more fluent in comparison to their first innings, hitting two fours each before
succumbing to Motie (1-26) and Permaul (1-45), respectively. Carter sought to rebound from his first innings failure and was helped by the Jaguars who dropped the left-hander four times prior to his demise.
Brooks supported Carter well as they added 84 runs for the third wicket and the former had already accumulated some four fours by the time the day’s play had ended. Carter did well to take his score close to three figures and would have backed himself to achieve the feat hadn’t it been for a nothing shot played off the final over of the day bowled by Leon Johnson who had him caught by Singh.
Earlier, the Pride lost their remaining six wickets for 44 runs in the first innings after
Motie, Permaul and Ronsford Beaton (1-15), had stormed the top-order
minutes before stumps on the second day leaving them 60-4.
Surprisingly, pacer Tino Best struck a top score of 19 with three good looking fours but it was not enough to prevent the Guyanese spinners who mopped up their opponents before the lunch break.
