Ace left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul rocked the Windward Islands Volcanoes with his 24th First Class 5-wicket haul; as defending champs Guyana Jaguars wrapped up a commanding opening day in their sixth round match of the Digicel Regional Four-Day Tournament at Providence on Thursday.
Guyana in their first innings were 78-2 at close of play with opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 27 not out and Vice-captain Vishaul Singh on 7 not out, trailing the visitors by just 39 runs heading into the second day.
Permaul, the 28-year-old who played 6 Test for the West Indies, bounced back from a below-par game against Barbados in the previous round at Providence, which was dominated by the fast-bowlers, to take his third five wicket haul this season and his personal tally to 31 scalps.
The Jags leading wicket-taker this season, snatched 5-40 which was instrumental in the Volcanoes horrendously imploding for a first innings total of 117 in 54.3 overs. Windwards skipper and opening batsman Tyrone Theophile hit three fours and a six in his top knock of 33 but looked scratchy on the easy-paced track in good weather for cricket.
Supporting Permaul were Jaguars all-round pacers Keemo Paul (1-19) and Sherfane Rutherford (2-27) who continues to impress while junior left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie snapped up two quick wickets for 11 runs.
Openers Chanderpaul and Chandrapaul Hemraj put on 48 for the first wicket with the in-form Hemraj stroking six beautiful boundaries before his middle stump was uprooted by the lively Lewis; who also bagged the big wicket of the Jaguars Captain Leon Johnson who was out caught for 4 heading towards the end of the day’s play.
Volcanoes’ pacer Sherman Lewis bowled a fiery spell to Jaguars captain Leon Johnson late on the opening day at Providence
Chanderpaul and Singh then knuckled down and warded off any further threats to see Guyana safely to stumps.
Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bowl, the Jaguars bowlers were on point during their opening spells, especially Permaul who seemed to be on a quest to make up for the previous round which was dominated by his quicker teammates.
Rutherford drew first blood when the tournament’s leading run-scorer; opener Devon Smith was caught behind by wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble. Theophile and Taryck Gabriel, shared a 22-run partnership before the top-edged a slog straight to Motie at mid-on, ending his brief innings.
The 50 had come up for the Volcanoes but Permaul who was now hitting his straps, bowled Miles Bascombe for a 16-ball duck on the stroke of lunch to end the session at 55 for 3. The opening stanza was clearly won by the three-time champions.
Theophile remained calm and found the ropes three times and even hit the first six of the innings off Permaul in the 15th over. The West Indies A spinner however, got his vengeance shortly after when he trapped the Windwards skipper leg before wicket, leaving the visitors reeling at 4-71.
Volcanoes barely caught a break before Rutherford got into the action for the second time when he broke Roland Cato’s edge for Bramble to complete a regulation catch standing back. Downell Hector then succumbed to an LBW decision courtesy of Paul while Permaul disturbed the stumps of Kyle Mayers shortly after. Dennis Smith (20) and Shane Shillingford (12), launched a brief counter-attack with a 33-run stand which briefly kept the Jaguars at bay before Motie joined the act and removed both batsmen. Permaul then grabbed his fifth scalp when his skipper held onto a sharp leaping catch to remove Delorn Johnson to wrap up the innings.
Day two begins at 09:30h and admission is free.
