…defending champions have now extended their lead at the top of the table with 86.4 points
A rampant Guyana Jaguars outplayed the Barbados Pride to win the fifth round Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League (PCL) four-day game by eight wickets yesterday at the National Stadium, Providence.
Scores in the match: Barbados Pride 294 and 197; Guyana Jaguars 314 and 181-2.
A decidedly one-sided outcome was not an entirely true reflection of the contest which ebbed and flowed through the first two-and-a-half days.
Since then, however, the three-times defending champions have been on an uncompromising victory surge, thanks largely to their three seamers, who combined to haul them into a dominant position.
The seamers bagged all ten of Barbados Pride second innings wickets, to set the hosts a victory target of just 178 runs, which they achieved with eight wickets to spare.
The result gave the Jaguars their fourth victory of the season and they have now extended their lead at the top of the table, moving to 86.4 points, having gained 21.6 from this match. Pride have now moved to 47.8, having collected 5.6.
Resuming the final day on 127-7, a lead of 106 runs, the Barbados Pride overnight batsmen, Jonathan Carter and Mario Rampersaud, provided some resistance, but despite Carter’s defiant counter-attacking 75-ball 53, which included eight boundaries, it was only a matter of time and the Pride were bowled out in their second innings within 18 overs in the morning session for 197.
Pacer Keon Joseph, who started the demolition on the third afternoon, claimed the final three wickets. He first had Carter caught in the slip corridor before he had both Jamal Warrican (2) and Keon Harding (0), caught at the wicket. Rampersaud was left unbeaten on 27.
Joseph, the West Indies A team player, finished with figures of 4-38, while Player-of-the-Match, Keemo Paul, who struck four vital blows late on the penultimate day, ended with 4-63, for a match-haul of 9-122. The other seamer Sherefane Rutherford chipped in with 2-55.
The Jaguars then reached 31-0 at lunch, with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 15 and Chanderpaul Hemraj on 16.
However, the hosts lost Hemraj soon after the interval, caught by Shamarh Brooks off the bowling of off-spinner Ashley Nurse for 21.
But the young Chanderpaul and skipper Leon Johnson then batted sensibly to gather runs comfortably. They shared a 117-run partnership for the second-wicket which solidified the Jaguars’ victory bid.
The young Chanderpaul began quietly, but with his immense determination and faultless shot-selection, he remained unbeaten on 62, an innings which lasted for 166 balls, inclusive of seven boundaries.
Johnson on the other hand, played within his limits, hitting 61 off 108 balls, with five fours and two sixes, before he was bowled by Keon Harding.
Test batsman Vishaul Singh (22 not out), and Chanderpaul took the Jaguars home without further hiccups.
The sixth round bowls off on Thursday with the Jaguars playing host to Windward Islands Volcanoes.