WHEN bad light stopped play at 17:02hrs yesterday afternoon, the Guyana Jaguars were comfortably placed on 169 for 3 on the first day in their clash with Windwards Volcanoes in their second round West Indies Cricket Board/Professional Cricket League Regional 4-day encounter at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

This was mainly due to Narsingh Deonarine’s unbeaten 79 and Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s unbeaten 26, the duo adding 59 runs for their unbroken fourth wicket partnership to date, while Mervin Matthews with his 1 for 14 is the best bowler for the visitors so far.
With early morning rain washing out play in the first session, Guyana Jaguars who played an unchanged team after winning the toss and batting first reached 100 for 2 at tea, with Deonarine on 41 and Assad Fudadin 32.
The Jaguars lost Rajendra Chandrika (05) in the second over of their innings, bowled by Nelon Pascal, who was later steered to the vacant third man position by Leon Johnson, while Fudadin celebrated his recall to the West Indies side as Darren Bravo’s replacement, with a four of his own off Matthews.
Johnson was next to go, caught by substitute fielder Keddy Lesporis who along with Johnson Charles was left out of the Volcanoes’ lineup for this encounter, at extra cover off Kenroy Peters, following which Deonarine and Fudadin added 71 for the third wicket.
Deonarine, who scored an unbeaten 110 against the Leeward Islands the first round, was in an authoritative mood, driving and pulling anything loose from the Volcanoes bowlers, especially Alston Bobb and skipper Liam Sebastien.
The Jaguars took the tea break at 100 for 2, with Deonarine on 41 and Fudadin 32, but lost Fudadin in the third over when play resumed, lbw to Matthews for 34 at 110 for 3, shortly after seeing Deonarine post his 43rd first class half century from 94 balls, with seven fours struck while batting for 129 minutes.
Despite the departure of Fudadin, Deonarine continued to play positive in search of his second successive and 11th first class ton, driving Sebastien with ease past extra cover for his ninth four, as the Jaguars moved to 163 for 3, with Deonarine progressing to 77.
Play will resume at 09:00hrs weather permitting on the second day today, wherein Guyana Jaguars will be looking to pile on the runs even as both Deonarine and Chanderpaul will go in search of individual tons.

Scorecard
Guyana Jaguars 1st innings
R. Chandrika b Pascal 05
A Fudadin lbw b Matthews 34
L Johnson c (sub) b Peters 19
N Deonarine not out 79
S Chanderpaul not out 26
Extras (nb-3, b-2) 05
Total (for 3 wickets off 64 overs) 168
Fall of wicket: 1-5 (Chandrika, 1.4), 2-39 (Johnson, 14.2), 3-110 (Fudadin, 40.5), 4-
To bat: R Reifer C Barnwell A. Bramble, V. Permaul, D. Bishoo, R. Beaton
Bowling: Matthews 9-2-14-1 Pascal 8-2-24-1 (nb-1) Peters 9-4-18-1, Bobb 18-1-48-0, Sebastien 16-4-51-0 (nb-2) Fletcher 1-0-6-0 Theophile 3-1-5-0

(By Calvin Roberts )