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ON the penultimate day of the fifth round West Indies Four-day championship encounter between the visiting Leeward Islands Hurricanes and the four-time defending champions, Guyana Jaguars, burly off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall claimed his second ten-wicket haul to leave the match delicately poised.
Chasing a competitive target of 291 runs, Hurricanes were 32-1 at stumps on the third day at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence still 259 runs away from their target
Montcin Hodge and Keacy Carty were batting on 17 and 3 respectively, and will resume today, facing an uphill task to avoid defeat.
Earlier, the 25-year-old Cornwall proved the bright spot for the visitors, claiming 6-70, his 15th five-wicket haul at this level, and a match-haul of 10-140, as the Jaguars were bowled out for 269 midway the final session.
A few of the home team batsmen got starts but failed to convert them into anything substantial. Clinton Pestano top-scored with 46 while Tagenarine Chanderpaul (40), Romario Shepherd (39), and Keemo Paul (22), were the other principal scorers yesterday.
Starting the day on 76-2 in their second innings, the Jaguars lost five wickets in the extended first session of play.
However, the Jaguars’ lunchtime score of 195-7 came in a rearguard 57-run seventh-wicket stand between Paul, who was bowled on the stroke of lunch and Shepherd, who remained unbeaten at the interval on 33.
The pair had come together with their side 138-6 during the final hour in the first session after spinners Cornwall and Damion Jacobs (2-90), had turned the match on its head by ripping their way through the Jaguars’ top- and middle-order.
It was clear that Jaguars’ batsmen played some careless shots and employed a strange strategy of playing back to the spinners. The rot started early as Christopher Barnwell (12) edged Jacobs behind at 103-3.
The 22-year-old Chanderpaul, who took his overnight 15 to 40, and Anthony Bramble (18), were then dismissed, lbw to Cornwall while Sherfane Rutherford (4) suffered a similar fate to Jacobs. Chanderpaul’s innings spanned 175 balls in 161 minutes with five boundaries.
Both Paul and Shepherd played freely to wrest back the momentum for a short period, before 21-year-old Paul was removed by medium pacer Sheno Berridge.
However, there was no play for the entire second session due to the illness from the food poisoning allegation.
When play resumed in the extended final session, at 14:20hrs, a few players from the visiting team were still recovering from upset stomach and diarrhea. This resulted in the team’s assistant coach Wilden Cornwall seen taking the field.
Cornwall then notched up his five-wicket haul when he had Shepherd taken at the wicket but not before the right-hander had struck five fours.
Pestano then entertained the small crowd with four sixes and a four before he too was removed by Cornwall. Devendra Bishoo was bowled by Jeremiah Louis without scoring and Veerasammy Permaul was left unbeaten on 15.
In the run chase, Hurricanes lost skipper Kieran Powell (7) lbw to Paul but Hodge and Carty survived until the end.
Play resumes today at 09:00hrs.
SCOREBOARD
GUYANA JAGUARS 1st innings 196
LEEWARD ISLANDS HURRICANES 1sr innings 175
GUYANA JAGUARS 2nd innings (o/n 76-2)
- Chanderpaul lbw b Cornwall 40
- Griffith lbw b Cornwall 37
- Johnson b Cornwall 15
- Barnwell c wkp. Peters b D Jacobs 12
- Paul b Berridge 22
- Bramble lbw b Cornwall 18
- Rutherford lbw b D Jacobs 4
- Shepherd c wkp. Peters b Cornwall 39
- Pestano lbw b Cornwall 46
- Permaul not out 15
- Bishoo b Louis 0
Extras: (5-b, 8-lb, 8-nb) 21
Total: (all out, 98.3 overs) 269
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-74, 3-103, 4-129, 5-136, 6-138, 7-195, 8-209, 9-268.
Bowling: Louis 17.3-3-49-1, Berridge 12-5-33-1, Cornwall 39-15-70-6, Warde 1-1-0-0, Peters 7-3-14-0, Jacobs 22-1-90-2
LEEWARD ISLANDS Hurricanes 2nd innings (Target 291)
- Powell lbw b Paul 7
- Hodge not out 17
- Carty not out 3
Extras: (nb-5) 5
Total: (for one wicket; 16 overs) 32
Fall of wicket: 1-16
Bowling: Pestano 3-1-5-0, Paul 4-1-18-1, Shepherd 4-2-4-0, Bishoo 4-2-2-0, Permaul 1-0-3-0.
