Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 22, 2010 Sports
By Sean Devers in Trinidad
In association with TCL Group & Splashmin’s Resort
On the back of an unbeaten 105 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and good bowling from leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo (4-46) and Esuan Crandon (3-34), Guyana ended the penultimate day of their Regional 4-Day cricket match against the Leewards Islands in a commanding position to secure their first win at this level since they beat the Leewards by an innings in St Thomas in March 2008.
Set 98 to win after the Leewards crashed from 182-5 to 192 all out half-way through the final session, Guyana reached 49-3 by the close, requiring only 49 runs for victory on the final day today with Chanderpaul unbeaten on seven and Assad Fudadin on one.
This was after Guyana, who began the 3rd day on 266-9 in their first innings fell for 287 giving them a 1st innings lead of 95.
Last man Brendon Bess batted sensibly, taking singles to give Chanderpaul, who began the day on 89, the strike and the Leewards took the 2nd new ball in the day’s 3rd over with Chanderpaul on 90 and Guyana on 269-9.
Chanderpaul, in his 55th game at this level for Guyana, drove Brent DeFreitas through mid-off for his 10th boundary to post his 14th First-Class ton for Guyana and 52nd at the First-Class level. His hundred came from 266 balls and 347 minutes and he celebrated with a spanking pull for 4 off the next ball.
Bess (3) then hit Wilden Cornwall to mid-on as the Guyana innings closed at 10:26hrs leaving Chanderpaul, who missed Guyana first 3 matches due to a finger injury, unbeaten for the 72nd time in his illustrious First- Class career. Anthony Martin finished with 4-55, while Justin Athanaze had 2-57 and DeFreitas 2-59.
Chanderpaul will miss Guyana’s final match against the Windwards from Friday in Grenada to play for the West Indies against Zimbabwe in their 20/20 clash here on Sunday and many had to feel sorry for him as he was forced to make a second innings appearance with his side chasing a 2-figure target.
Guyana began their victory chase badly when Rajendra Chandrika edged a catch to the Keeper before he had scored to leave Guyana 2-1.
Gajanand Singh got going with a cut and a clip off his legs for boundaries off DeFreitas and then took 3 more boundaries of the pacer a few overs later as he seemed intent on finishing the match yesterday.
Chattergoon (9) continued his struggles this season when he was LBW to Cornwall at 26-2 before Singh drove DeFreitas to cover to leave the score on 39-3. His 26 included 6 fours from 32 balls but with an entire day available in the match his ultra aggressive approach only emphasized Coach Ravindra Seeram’s statement on Saturday about the mental fortitude of Guyana’s young cricketers.
Chanderpaul and Fudadin ensured Guyana did not lose another wicket before the close as Chanderpaul’s presence injected some sanity to the run chase.
Earlier, the Islanders were off to a good start in their 2nd innings with Montcin Hodge and Kieran Powell taking the attack to Bess who conceded 20 runs in his first 3 overs while Crandon only gave away 6 from the other end off his first 4.
Crandon, like he did in the first innings, kept the shackles on the batsmen, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul bowled with good control and used the air nicely while leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo replaced Crandon just before lunch and extracted turn from the track.
With the score on 56, Hodge (29) was run out while Gavin Williams (0) was caught at slip pushing forward to a ball that turned across him from Permaul and the Islanders were 57-2 seven minutes before lunch on a track with variable bounce.
By the interval yesterday, the Leewards were wobbling on the ropes at 66-3, still 29 away from avoiding an innings defeat after Powell (21) was bowled by Permaul on the stroke of lunch. Steve Liburd was unbeaten on 8 and for the first time in almost 2 years at this level Guyana were large and in charge and in the driver’s seat.
After lunch, a spattering of fans, mostly Guyana supporters, watched in blistering heat as Omari Banks, who scored 60 in the first innings joined Liburd against Permaul and Bishoo who bowled in tandem on a pitch getting worse for batting as the game progressed.
Banks lofted Permaul for a mighty straight six and Liburd smashed off-spinner Zaheer Mohamed, strangely asked to bowl a negative middle and leg stump line to the right-handers, for four. The Leewards lost Liburd (16) trying to sweep Bishoo to square-leg to leave the score on 98-4.
Cornwall and Banks, the only player from Anguilla to play Test cricket, tried to revive the position with positive batting and an extra cover drive off Bishoo for 4 was among the better shots in the 2nd session.
The pair continued to bat purposefully and a pugnacious clip off his pads by Cornwall off Crandon brought up the 50 partnership.
Six minutes before lunch Banks played around a ball from Crandon and was trapped leg before for 49 from 98 balls, 114 minutes with 3 fours and a six to leave his team on 163-5. Cornwall (35) and Jamhar Hamilton (0) saw the Leewards to 164-5 by tea with a lead of 69.
After tea Bishoo and Crandon quickly wrapped up the innings once Cornwall was removed by Crandon after batting for 91 minutes, 76 balls with 6 fours. Bishoo, who took 3-63 in the first innings, then sent back Hamilton (8) and Denison Browne (0) in the space of 3 runs to leave the score on 191-8 before Crandon, who had 5-39 in the first innings, bowled DeFreitas (0). Bishoo wrapped up the innings when Athanaze missed a wild swipe and was stumped for 2.
Despite the early loss of their 3 top order batsmen, the Guyanese finished the day in a commanding position to take ‘full points’ today and move to 19 points with a match in hand.
Meanwhile, with Chanderpaul being the only Guyanese selected on the West Indies team for Sunday’s 20/20 clash at the Oval, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin and Ramnaresh Sarwan could all be available for Guyana in Grenada.
Manager Carl Moore said yesterday that the team for Grenada should be selected today and it is expected that Deonarine will come in for Chanderpaul and Sarwan for Royston Crandon. However, it is understood that Sarwan’s fitness is not known by the West Indies selectors who are hoping that he plays for Guyana before the team for the ODI series is announced.
With Guyana out of the race for championship honours despite the result against the Windwards, it will be interesting to see if the selectors will also include Travis Dowlin, (who like his Skipper Chris Gayle, has not been selected for Sunday’s 20/20 game against Zimbabwe) at the expense of one of the young batsmen.
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