WICB First-Class cricket Franchise: Permaul (5-77), Bishoo (4-62) destroy Jamaica

Mar 07, 2015 Sports

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Jaguars in driver’s seat after opening day

By Sean Devers

Guyana Jaguars’ left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul took his 13th five-wicket haul to take his tally in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) First-Class Cricket Franchise tournament to 51 wickets on the opening day of their eight-round match against Jamaica at Providence yesterday.
Permaul finished with 5-77 from 31.4 overs and got support from leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who had 4-62 from 25 overs as the Albion spin twins conspired to destroy the Jamaicans, who were bowled out just before the close for 258 despite half-centuries from Jermaine Blackwood (54) and Chadwick Walton (57) and a confident 44 from Skipper Tamar Lambert.
The Jaguars in reply were 35 without loss from nine overs with Rajendra Chandrika, who elegantly cover drove Jason Dawes for four, and Assad Fudadin, who caressed Marquino Mindely majestically for a couple of boundaries through cover, were the unbeaten batsmen on 16 and 18 respectively when bails were lifted with the host 223 runs away from first innings lead with all of their wickets in hand.
Fudadin returned from a finger injury in place of Barbadian Raymond Reifer who was surprisingly dropped after seeing the Jaguars to victory over Barbados in the last round. Fudadin showed no signs of his injury and along with the elegant Chandrika, who would want to convert his good starts into a three-figure score, looked untroubled in their time at the crease yesterday to put their team in the driver’s seat.

When play began 12 minutes late due to a short sharp shower just before the start, Jamaica opted to bat and lost Shacaya Thomas (1) who was caught off Chris Barnwell with just a run on the board before John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood revived the position with an 87-run partnership with Blackwood, who played five Tests, reaching his third fifty for the season and 12th overall with an entertaining batting display on a low and slow pitch.
The partnership was broken when the 23-year-old Blackwood edged one that spun away from him from Permaul to wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble at 88-2 after facing 48 balls and batting for 56 minutes in his 54 which was decorated with 10 fours.
When two short of his third fifty for the season, Campbell, who hit four fours and two sixes from 97 minutes and 69 balls, was removed by Permaul just before Lunch with Jamaica on 109-3. And by the Interval the team from the largest English-speaking Caribbean Island, were 113-3 with Lambert and Walton at the crease.
After Lunch, a small amount of the massive crowd which included President Donald Ramotar, that turned out for the Phagwah day event on the Tarmac, ventured inside the Stadium to watch the cricket as the sun returned in all of it glory. There was lots of confusion regarding which gate those wishing to attend the cricket had to use, casing much inconvenience and lengthy delays for those persons.
The burly Lambert, who led Jamaica to an unprecedented five consecutive Regional First-Class titles from 2008, stepped on the gas in the second session.
He dumped Bishoo back over his head for six and continued to play in a positive fashion and together with Walton put on 76 for the fourth wicket before Lambert drove Permaul to Shiv Chanderpaul at mid-off to end his innings six short of what would have been his 30th First-Class half-century. His 44 lasted 129 minutes, 110 balls and included four fours and a six and his demise left his team 185-4.
Walton who played two Tests against Bangladesh and was impressive with the gloves in his maiden Test series, where he equaled Ridley Jacobs’ record with five dismissals in an innings, in Grenada, soon reached his 16th First-Class fifty from 86 balls, 105 minutes with seven boundaries.
Jamaica enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the second session, losing just one wicket and scoring 106 runs, and by Tea, in conditions that had again become overcast, and with spicy Indian music emanating for the Tarmac to West of the ground, the visitors were well placed on 219-4. Walton was on 52 and 20-year-old Brandon King, who scored 71 on debut against T&T in the last round, looking organized on 19.
At time when most West Indies batsmen seem incapable of successfully countering spin bowling, the 25-year-old Permaul continued to torment batsmen and in the third over after the break, trapped Walton LBW after the right-hander missed a sweep and was sent packing for 57 with the score on 230-5. He struck eight fours and batted for 138 minutes, faced 106 balls and his dismissal provided Permaul with his 50th wicket of what has been a dream tournament for him.
King, a West Indies under-19 player who is quite good to spin, stroked four fours and cleared the boundary once before he missed a big on-drive at Bishoo and was stumped for 27, while Dave Bernard (1) went in a similar manner as Jamaica lost two wickets for three runs to slip to 236-7.
The Bishoo trapped Damion Jacobs (6) LBW at 243-8 and moved to 40 scalps for the tournament when he had Mindley (6) caught behind at 258-9 by Bramble, who fell one short of Geoffrey Murray’s record five dismissals for Guyana against the Combined Islands at Bourda in 1970. Permaul then wrapped up the innings by getting rid of Dawes (6) to leave the Jaguars to bat 40 minutes on the opening day
Play on the second day today starts at 10:00hrs and admission is free.

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