Chattergoon hits unbeaten fifty on rain-hit day

Mar 28, 2009 Sports

Sewnarine Chattergoon

By Sean Devers in Trinidad
In association with Busta,
Noble House Seafoods & Carib Beer

Test opener Sewnarine Chattergoon hit an unbeaten 52 as Guyana reached 129-3 when bad light ended the rain-hit opening day of their WICB 12th round regional four-day cricket match against Trinidad and Tobago at the Queens Park Oval at 17:26hrs yesterday.
The second of two stoppages (at 14:27hrs) resulted in play being delayed until 16:40 hrs when the action resumed with 25 overs remaining in the day’s play which was extended by an hour to 18:00hrs.
Chattergoon, who turns 28 on the 3rd of next month, has so far hit two fours and a six in his 156-ball and 233-minute innings. Skipper Travis Dowlin is unbeaten on 14 and the pair will need to give their team a solid partnership today.

While Chattergoon has struggled since his return to the team in the second round after injury, Dowlin has been in very good form without converting any of his four fifties in three-figure scores. Today presents a great opportunity for Chattergoon and Dowlin to aim for the personal landmarks of centuries in a game in which their team’s performance will only be of academic interest.
Earlier, surprisingly leaving out the in-form Royston Crandon and his brother Esuan from their starting X1, Guyana won the toss and elected to bat in hazy sunshine on a surface with some bounce and a lush green outfield. Chris Barnwell confidently drove debutant Navin Stewart to the cover boundary before cutting and pulling the pacer for consecutive boundaries two overs later as he dominated the opening partnership with Chattergoon.

Chattergoon grew in confidence as his innings progressed and a couple of vintage square-cuts for boundaries off Atiba Alert carried him into double figures before he pulled Rayad Emrit over mid-wicket for six in the next over to post the Guyana 50 in the 10th over.
With the score on 55, Barnwell (30) drove Alert to short cover to bring West Indies ODI left-hander Leon Johnson to the crease.
A sharp shower sent the players scurrying off the field at 11:23hrs with the visitors on 62-1 with Chattergoon on 29 and Johnson yet to score.
When play eventually resumed after lunch at 12:45hrs in brilliant sunshine 21-year-old Johnson elegantly flicked Emrit for four to get his innings going and along with Chattergoon took the score to 87 before Johnson’s inconsistent season continued when he edged medium pacer Navin Stewart to the keeper after making 13.

Narsingh Deonarine, the competition’s leading scorer with 863 runs and two centuries, joined fellow left-hander Chattergoon and the Albion pair saw the 100 up in 36 overs. The 25-year-old Deonarine, who must be very close to a West Indies re-call after playing the last of his four Tests in Sri Lanka in 2005, punched Stewart gloriously off the back-foot through the cover for four before he was run out for 13 at 104-3 as the skies again became dark and ominous. After flicking off-spinner Sherwin Ganga to deep cover off the edge, Deonarine failed to beat the return as he responded half-heartedly to Chattergoon’s call for two and was dismissed 25 runs short of joining Carl Hooper as the only other Guyanese with 900 runs in a regional season.

More rain, at 14:27hrs again forced the players off the field with Guyana on 104-3 with Chattergoon on 42 and Dowlin yet to score and an early Tea was taken.
Play eventually resumed in murky conditions and Emrit, back in the team to replace recalled West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul, troubled Dowlin with inward movement off the seam in fading light. Chattergoon reached his first fifty of the season while Dowlin was with him when the batsmen accepted the bad light offer with 14 overs left to be bowled in the day.
Trinidad and Tobago Skipper Daren Ganga said that while his team (which began this round in fifth place with 51 points) can no longer win the title the aim now is to finish among the top three teams in the ‘double round’ tournament.

“We are going for an outright win in this game sine we want to finish in the top three. Guyana has some quality players so we are not underrating them but they have been having a poor season and we hope to capitalize on that and push for a win although the weather here has not helped us today,” Ganga said Guyana are hoping to also get some points from this game to come of the cellar position and aim to put a big score on the board today to give their bowlers ‘something’ to bowl at.
Meanwhile, in other results from yesterday, Combined Campuses closed on 283/3 in their match against the Leeward Islands. (Phillips 163* Reifer 14*, Corbin 67: Wkts: Cornwall 1/47, Tonge 1/48).
And Jamaica struggled to 189/8 in their game versus the Windward Islands. (Lambert 93).