TCL Group regional three-day U-19 cricket (4th round)...Creary hammers ton as Jamaica take 1st day honours against Guyana

TCL Group regional three-day U-19 cricket (4th round)…Creary hammers ton as Jamaica take 1st day honours against Guyana

Jul 20, 2008 Sports

By Sean Devers in Barbados
In association with Digicel, TCL, Pepsi, Smalta, Demerara Power Company & Lifetime Realty

An entertaining 177-run sixth wicket partnership between Skipper and West Indies under-19 player Andre Creary and Marvarick Perry gave Jamaica the first day honours on Saturday against defending champions Guyana in their fourth round TCL Group regional under-19 three-day cricket match at the Yorkshire ground.
The 17-year-old Creary hit an enterprising 118 from 197 balls, 270 minutes with 13 fours and two sixes while wicketkeeper Perry made 80 from 181 balls, 204 minutes with eight fours and two sixes as Jamaica recovered from 83-5 to reach 354-9 declared on a flat track, three minutes before the scheduled 17:00hrs close.

Pacer Keon Joseph who did the early damage after Jamaica elected to bat first, finished with 3-40 while Skipper and left-arm spinner Eugene LaFleur took 3-73.

Creary whose only previous ton at this level was 101 against Barbados last year, had one chance when he was dropped off LaFleur on 111 with the score on 252-5 but although the offering was deflected for a six by Royan Fredricks, Creary did not capitalize on his luck and was dismissed in the same over with the score on 260.

The left-handed Perry, who scored his maiden half-century in the first round against Trinidad and Tobago, played several audacious shots before he was eventually caught behind as LaFleur brought Guyana back into the game in the final session with wickets in successive overs.

Earlier, Jamaica lost their first two wickets in the fourth over with the score on 10 when the left-handed Nick Blackwood (4) was taken at gully off the lively Joseph, who then had Courtney Allen (0) caught behind off his glove.

Dilon Heyliger shared the new ball with Joseph after senior pacer Leon Scott, nursing a sore back, was given a rest. Heyliger was elegantly cover-driven for four by Creary while West Indies under-19 player Horace Miller, who hit an explosive ton against Guyana in the One-Day final last year in St Kitts, pulled Joseph for six in the next over as the Jamaicans counter-attacked.

Creary, in his sixth year at youth level and third as an under-19 for Jamaica, greeted LaFleur with an exquisite extra cover-driven four before sweeping him for another boundary.

Joseph, arguably the quickest bowler in the tournament, induced Miller to glove a hook to the keeper Anthony Bramble to leave Jamaica, who beat Guyana by an innings and 50 runs last year, on 44-3. Miller made 16 from 32 balls with a six but impetuous shot selection caused his demise 50 minutes into the day’s play.

West Indies under-15 opener John Campbell joined Creary as Guyana employed an all-spin attack mid-way into the opening session. The 50 was posted in 58 minutes off 12.4 overs before the left-handed Campbell (6) was brilliantly caught and bowled by LaFleur at 58-4.

Kennar Lewis, one of two Jamaicans with first round centuries, got going with a lofted straight boundary off Latcha and then struck the off-spinner for two more fours in his next over.

Lewis (19) soon swept Latcha to mid-wicket at 83-5, twenty-eight minutes before lunch as the erratic shot selection continued. Perry (3) and the talented Creary (48) saw their team to lunch at 101-5 in overcast conditions.

Creary reached his eighth fifty at this level in the first over after tea from 69 balls when he steered Joseph to third man for his eighth boundary and along with Perry, who thumped left-arm spinner Totaram Bishun for two boundaries in the second over after the interval and slog-swept La Fleur for six, took the attack to the South Americans.

Watched by another small crowd which included mostly Guyanese, Creary caressed Joseph through the covers and delightfully stroked him through mid-off for consecutive fours.

The pair batted confidently with Perry depositing Latcha for a six to reach his second fifty from 94 balls, 119 minutes with five fours and two sixes. Creary soon reached his ton from 157 balls, 212 minutes with 13 fours and a six.

By tea the enterprising partnership was worth 137 runs with Creary on 101, Perry on 61 and Jamaica, who scored 119 in the second session without losing a wicket, on 220-5.

After the break, Creary continued to play an array of enterprising shots on the rough outfield and along with Perry, took their team to 260 before LaFleur removed them both in the space of a run.

Jermaine Blackwood dumped leg-spinner Jonathan Foo for a huge six to get his innings going and along with Romeo Dunka carried Jamaica to 348 as the lads from Reggae country stepped on the gas.

Dunka who was dropped twice and who dunked five sixes and two fours in his belligerent 34-ball 46, added 87 with Blackwood for the eighth wicket before part-time off-spinner Fredricks had them both to skied catches just before the close with the score on 348. Blackwood made 39 with two fours and two sixes.

Guyana, without Joseph in the final session due to a slight hamstring strain, looked ragged in the field on the small ground as Jamaica declared three minutes before the scheduled 17:00hrs close of play.