Georgetown in hunt for first innings against East Bank

Jaguars Franchise League

—Foo records League’s first century

Powerhouse Georgetown trail by 128 runs with seven wickets in hand to accomplish the first innings against East Bank at the end of the first day of the inaugural Jaguar Franchise League yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club ground.
There at the close of play were captain Christopher Barnwell on 28 and former West Indies youth player, Kwame Crosse on two. The pair of Barnwell and Crosse has so far added 30 runs as their team closed on 65-3 in response to East Bank’s 192 all out.
Georgetown started batting at 16:00h and had a total of 21 overs to survive. Their openers Andrew Lyght Jr and Robin Bacchus were cruising along quite responsibly until East Bank’s skipper, Steven Jacobs, decided to take the ball. That move worked immediately as he struck Lyght (12) on the pads for a leg before wicket (LBW) decision with the score on 29.
Bacchus followed four runs later as he played a loose shot to be caught by the diving fielder at short mid-on, off the bowling of Colin Benn. Jacobs was responsible for the final wicket as he peeled the edge of Ovid Richardson when the batsman was on two.

Crosse then joined forces with Barnwell and the pair handled the pressure maturely as they marshalled their team to the close.
Earlier, East Bank won the toss and decided to bat. They made it to 39 before losing their first wicket, that of first class player, Trevon Griffith, for nine. Subsequent to his demise it was shaky for East Bank as five wickets fell for 74 runs. During that period only Ryan Shun 42 and Steven Jacobs 19 showed resistance against the Georgetown attack, which was spearheaded by off spinner Gajanan Suknanan, and left arm spinner Devon Lord.
However, former national junior all-rounder, Danny Narayan and Ershad Ali partnered for 74 runs in a stubborn seventh wicket partnership. It only ended when Narayan hit what was probably the worst ball of his innings -a full toss delivered by Lord- in the air and was caught for 50 off 84 balls.
Withstanding Narayan’s casualty, Ali was determined to the end as he remained unbeaten on 26. Lord and Suknanan were the best bowlers for Georgetown with figures of 3-46 and 3-35 respectively, while Barnwell claimed two victims in a good deed of support. Andre Stoll bowled excellently in his 13 overs, but went wicketless as he only conceded 16 runs.
In the other three matches, East Coast and Albion/New Amsterdam have won first innings points, while the match between West Berbice and Upper Corentyne is still in the balance.
At Tuschen, Jonathan Foo scored the tournament’s first century to guide Albion/New Amsterdam to 173-2 at the end of the first day, in reply to Essequibo’s paltry 101 all out. Anthony Adams (33) and Parmesh Parsram (24) were the only batsmen to reach 20 for Essequibo. Gajanand Singh (26 not out) was at the close with Foo. Left arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (5-23) and pacer Raun Johnson 4-30, were the chief wreckers of Essequibo’s innings, while Nial Smith claimed the other wicket.
Albion/New Amsterdam will start the second day today with a lead of 62 and eight wickets in hand.
At the Enterprise Community Development Centre ground, Amir Khan captured five wickets, while Bhaskar Yadram and Gavin Boodwah made fifties to take East Coast to first innings. Batting first, West Demerara was rattled for 111 in 36 overs, with Raymond Reifer and Akshaya Persaud making 34 and 24 respectively. Khan made constant inroads into West Demerara’s innings to snare five wickets.
In reply, East Coast were 136-5 when play ended, as Reifer grabbed three wickets while Yadram and Gavin Boodwah recorded fifties.
At Young Warriors Ground, Cumberland Canje; West Berbice made 222 all out against Upper Corentyne. Quacey McPherson (50), Andrew Dutchin (41) and West Indies Under-19 captain Shimron Hetmyer (36) were the principal scorers. Former Guyana under-19 skipper Shawn Perreira led his team’s bowling with 3-42, while Keon Sinclair and Clinton Pestano got two wickets each.
Upper Corentyne ended the day on 55-1 in reply, with national player Assad Fudadin on 26 not out.
All matches will resume at 09:30h today at the said venues.