WICB PCL Cricket ...Singh’s 121 give Jaguars the ascendency

WICB PCL Cricket …Singh’s 121 give Jaguars the ascendency

Nov 20, 2015 Sports

By Sean Devers
Despite losing their last six wickets for 35 runs on an overcast second day of the WICB PLC third round cricket match at Providence yesterday, the Guyana Jaguars grabbed four late wickets to leave the Barbados Pride on 60-4 after they eventually fell for 337 at the Tea break.

Vishaul Singh gathers leg-side runs during his magnificent 121 yesterday.

While Skipper Leon Johnson added only one to his overnight 73, his first day partner Vishaul Singh carried on from 30 to post his third First-Class hundred and his second in consecutive innings set a solid foundation for a huge score.
But only left-handed Bajan Raymon Reifer, who reached the boundary six times in 32 and added 89 for the fifth wicket with Singh, who oozed confidence in a masterful 121 which lasted 332 minutes and 241 balls and was decorated with 14 exquisitely timed boundaries, got going with the bat for the Jaguars yesterday.
Jaguars, Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul, back in the side after missing the first two games due to an ankle injury, removed both openers cheaply, while Pacer Ronsford Beaten and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, who failed to flight the ball as much as he did in the last match in which he got 11 scalps, took a wicket each to leave the Bajans still 277 behind Guyana’s total when play ended in fading light.
Kyle Corbin and 27-year-old Kemar Braithwaite on debut added 20 for the first wicket before Braithwaite (11) provided wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble with the first of his four dismissals as Permaul, who also got rid of Corbin (16) at 36-2, struck.

Raymon Reifer flicks Tino Best at Providence yesterday.

Corbin and Braithwaite were just beginning to settle in with both batsmen playing some handsome drives off the new ball pair of Beaton and Rifer when spin was introduced from the Southern end and two wickets tumbled in the space on 16 runs.
But when Jonathon Carter, with two First-Class tons and 13 ODIs for the West Indies edged Beaton to Bramble for four and last match centurion Shamarh Brooks (9) provided Motie with his 15th wicket in the tournament, the Bajans were not feeling so proud at 52-4.
Royston Chase and debutant Mario Rampersaud, with Guyanese parentage, were at the crease. Permaul so far has 2-24.
Earlier, Guyana, who has not beaten Barbados on home soil in 31 years, resumed on 170-2 with the partnership between Johnson and Singh already worth 60 but Johnson again failed to convert his 24th fifty into his third ton to leave Guyana on 180-3.
Shiv Chanderpaul and Singh added 33 in 78 minutes as the bowlers kept the left-handed pair on a tight rein before the 41-year-old Chanderpaul, who struggled for 50 balls to score freely, fell for 11 when Rampersaud took his first catch at this level off Ashley Nurse at 213-4.
The 26-year-old Singh, playing with immaculate defence and wonderful shot selection stroked Miguel Cummins for three contrasting boundaries in an over that were a joy to watch.
He first tucked one off his pads through mid-wicket, before giving himself room and slapping one of the back-foot through backward point. The third one was almost orgasmic. The little left-hander from GCC nonchalantly leaned onto the front foot and imperiously drove the ball though extra cover as not a man moved.
Reifer was not to be left out and stroked his countrymen for an array of delightful drives through the off-side and was the perfect partner for the more careful Singh, whose temperament and shots reminded many of the approximately 120 fans in the stands of Chanderpaul in his prime.
Reifer was eventually deceived by an excellently flighted deliverly and was bowled to ended a well constructed partnership of 89 with the score on 302-5 to spark a dramatic collapse with saw six batsmen falling in a heap.
Bramble (7) top edged a hook at Skipper Kevin Stoute which went ‘miles’ into the air for the nimble Rampersaud to run back to short fine-leg to hold a stupendous catch diving full length forward.
Singh edged a beauty which left him from Stoute next ball which Rampersaud gleefully accepted to leave Stoute on a hat-trick and the score on 317-7. Permaul was taken at second slip for a duck without addition to the score as the Barbados Captain ripped through the Jaguars’ batting.
Things got progressively worse for the wounded Jaguars as the Bajans circled for the kill. Steven Jacobs (7) was taken at short-leg off Royston Chase before Benn removed Beaton (11) to wrap up the innings leaving the visitors to bat out the last session.