Left arm bowlers, Raymon Refier and Veerasammy Permaul shared seven wickets on the opening day to give the Guyana Jaguars complete command of their fifth round clash with Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the West Indies Cricket Board Professional Cricket League Digicel Regional Four Day Tournament at Providence on Friday. Seam bowler Reifer, did the early damage when conditions were favourable for his style of bowling while orthodox spinner, Permaul cleaned up the lower order. Reifer impressive season continues with three wickets either side of lunch while Permaul was patient in grabbing four scalps.
Raymon Reifer celebrates with his Jaguars teammates the dismissal of Kyle Hope early on the opening day at Providence
The day began in absolute overcast conditions when the toss was won by the visiting Red Force Captain, Yannic Ottley who opted to bat first. However, as the Umpires were heading to the middle the clouds opened and the action was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes.
After getting on the way, Red Force openers began in typical opening day fashion with their most established batsman this season, Kyle Hope and the versatile Imran Khan playing cautiously. The Jaguars opening bowlers, Keon Joseph and Reifer were looking to maximize the seam friendly conditions and it was the left arm medium pacer who got the break through.
After getting some away movements to Hope, Reifer got one to shape back into the right handed Barbadian and he was comprehensively bowled at the start of the 10th over at 28/1 and the Jaguars were warming up in cool and overcast conditions.
The old saying of ‘one brings two’ was repeated when Imran Khan drove the first ball of the next over straight to Vishaul Singh at short extra cover off Christopher Barnwell also at the same score. The next over saw the introduction of spin in the form of Permaul and after four testing deliveries the covers were called on as the rains came again at 11:55h. With the rescheduled lunch interval five minutes away, lunch was immediately taken however play didn’t resume until 13:45h.
Shortly after the resumption, Reifer continued from where he left off with a double strike in his first over, the second of the session. Jason Mohammed who was on naught at lunch nicked behind and Yannic Cariah got the perfect first ball and was sent on his way. In the middle session, five more Red Force wickets fell while 89 runs were scored in all.
The best partnership of the innings came when Roshon Primus joined forces with captain Ottley at 63/5 when Isiah Rajah went in the 21st over. Primus was very aggressive in scoring 42 from 66 balls with seven fours while Ottley made a patient 15 before he was first of Permaul’s victims ending the 33-run partnership. After pushing around for 41 balls, the Red Force captain drove to backward point where Motie took it inches above the ground with the score on 96/6 in the 33rd over and the visitors were in deep trouble.
Primus then drove Permaul to the long on boundary to bring up the Red Force 100 off the first ball of the 35th over and he seemed well set to give his team a descent first innings total. However, in trying to play for tea, Primus looked out of sorts in defending rather than the modus operandi aggressive shots and in the final over before the interval chipped a slow flighted delivery back to Permaul who took it at 117/7 in the 39th over and the end seemed near.
After the break, Steven Katwaroo and Khary Pierre played some beautiful shots and entertained while adding 33 as well but Permaul will strike again when Katwaroo was hit adjacent to a quicker ball then Marlon Richards hit a boundary before becoming Permaul’s fourth victim. Richards, the Guyanese born player got height and not distance and was taken at long on while Gudakesh Motie who was guilty of bowling too flat and fast got Pierre to hit in the air to end the innings in the 54th over.
The lights were switched on for most of the day which was dark for most parts due to the rain and overcast conditions. The Jaguars began their reply and after 2.2 overs the rains came again and the umpires called the covers on and time for the day.
Rajendra Chandrika got off the mark when he pulled the second ball of the innings for four and looked comfortable as was his partner Shimron Hetmyer and they will look to resume today in the same positive mood to keep the Jaguars on top while Primus and Richards will look to utilize the conditions on what is expected another rainy day.
To make up for the approximately two hours and 25 minutes lost on the opening day, play will begin at 09:00h and a gripping second day is predicted.
