… Martina snares five-wicket haul

FIRST class opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Ashkay Homraj were the stars with the bat for Guyana, against Shaquille Martina’s five-wicket haul for Leeward Islands at the end of yesterday’s opening day of their first round West Indies Cricket Board Under-19 three-day encounter at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Guyana, who last won a Regional Under-19 three-day title in St Kitts seven years ago under the captaincy of Steven Jacobs, were bowled out for 270 with Chanderpaul 65 and Homraj 62 leading the way, backed by Steven Sankar’s unbeaten 32.
Martina bowled unchanged for the visitors, except for two of his overs when he switched ends, to end with 5 for 86 from 31 overs of controlled spin, receiving support from Theron Bussue who took 2 for 48.
Asked to bat 10 overs for the day, Leeward Islands reached 21 for the loss of Dion Weste’s (1) wicket, with Ross Powell (14, 2×4) and Martina who is yet to score, their not-out batsmen, while Balchand Baldeo has taken the lone wicket to fall.
Earlier in the day, Guyana lost Shimron Hetmyer (5) and skipper Brian Sattaur (10) within the first hour of the day’s play, to be 42 for 2, before Chanderpaul and Baldeo 20 (2×4) pushed the score to 74, with their 32-run third-wicket partnership, which was broken when Baldeo was caught by Alzarri Joseph low down at first slip off Martina.
Shiraz Ramcharran (10) joined Chanderpaul and pushed Guyana to 108, with the 100 being posted from 39.4 overs before Ramcharran played around a delivery from Martina and was bowled.
Chanderpaul hit Leewards skipper Jeremiah Louis and Bussue for back-to-back boundaries, followed by two fours back over the head of Colin Archibald, posting his 50 from 122 balls, 192 minutes of batting and counting six fours.
After posting his 50, Chanderpaul celebrated with a six into the Media Centre off Archibald, before he played a tired shot at Martina and offered Kenrick Scott a catch at mid-off, having faced 137 balls during his 197 minutes at the wicket in which he struck eight fours and one six.
Kemo Paul joined Homraj at Chanderpaul’s demise and played a cameo knock, scoring six fours in his 26 off 17 balls, before he nicked one through to wicketkeeper Mohit Hingorani off Joseph at 173 for 6.
At tea, Guyana were 205 for 6 with Homraj on 41 and Kemol Savory 8 and after the break, Savory departed when he struck one back to Bussue, while Homraj got his 50 from 92 minutes batting in which he struck five fours from 50 deliveries.
In partnership with Sankar, Homraj added 41 for the eighth wicket before he emulated Savory and struck one low back to Bussue which the bowler accepted and was followed seven runs later by Damion Waldron (2).
Sankar and Keon Morris (9) pushed Guyana to their eventual total, before Morris, who, along with Waldron and Savory, was making his debut for Guyana at this level, pulled a short delivery from Archibald into the waiting hands of Kasey Carthy at deep backward square leg.

(By Calvin Roberts)