FLORENCE HALL, Jamaica, CMC – Discarded Test left-hander Vishaul `Cheesy’ Singh was eyeing his ninth first class hundred as five-time reigning champions Guyana Jaguars took command of their sixth round contest against Jamaica Scorpions.
The 31-year-old Vishaul closed yesterday’s second day unbeaten on 93 to steer the visitors to 287 for six in reply to Scorpions’ first innings of 216 at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium.
Opener Chandrapaul Hemraj missed out on three figures when he fell for 83 while captain Leon Johnson got a start with 35 but failed to build.
Left-arm spinner Dennis Bulli was the hosts’ best bowler with three for 84, accounting for the two wickets to fall in the final session.
Resuming the day without a run on the board from two overs the previous evening, Jaguars lost the obdurate Tagenarine Chanderpaul cheaply for eight with the score on 21, the left-hander squared up by seamer Alwyn Williams and bowled off-stump in the morning’s sixth over.
However, Hemraj then anchored two successive half-century stands to pull the innings around and put Jaguars on top. First, he put in 60 for the second wicket with Johnson, who faced 73 balls and counted four fours, as Jaguars reached 75 without further loss at lunch.
When Johnson added just one run before going stumped off Bulli in the third over after the interval, Hemraj and Vishaul combined to put on a further 98 for the third wicket.
Hemraj, also a left-hander, faced 173 balls in 3-¾ hours and struck three fours and sixes while Vishaul, who played three Tests against Pakistan three years ago, punched seven fours off 171 deliveries in a shade over 3-½ hours.
Jaguars suffered a double blow with the score on 179, however, when Hemraj and Chris Barnwell (0) perished in the third over before tea.
Hemraj edged a booming drive at left-arm spinner Patrick Harty (2-67) and was taken by Jermaine Blackwood above head height at first slip and two balls later, Barnwell scooped an ordinary delivery to captain John Campbell at cover.
On 183 for four at tea with Singh unbeaten on exactly 50, Jaguars flourished in the final session as Singh posted 34 for the fifth wicket with Raymon Reifer (16), 32 for the sixth with Anthony Bramble (25) before adding 42 in an unbroken seventh wicket stand with Kevin Sinclair (20 not out).
