THERE is an old saying in Guyana, ‘When you catch a pacu yuh bust he back and fill it with salt’, and certainly the Leon Johnson led Guyana Jaguars did just that in their first round West Indies Cricket Board/Professional Cricket League four day encounter against the Leeward Islands yesterday.

Playing at the Guyana National Stadium where they resumed the second day on 230 for 5 with Narsingh Deonarine on 73 and Christopher Barnwell 24, the home team rallied to score 343, with Deonarine hitting an unbeaten 110, his 10th first class ton.
The Jaguars bowlers, led by a fiery Ronsford Beaton and spin twins Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo, then did the trick with the ball taking three wickets each, as they dismissed the Leeward Islands for 94 in 47.1 overs, as Anthony Martin topscored with 25.
Asked to follow-on with a deficit of 249, the Leewards reached 4 without loss off one over of left arm spin from Permaul and faced a herculean task in wiping off their target on a track that is beginning to show signs of wear and tear, midway through the day’s play yesterday.
When the Jaguars was dismissed 34 minutes after lunch off 126.5 overs, Beaton hurriedly left the field and returned like a man possessed, moving the ball around the Leeward Islands openers body before sending back both Austin Richards and Akeem Saunders without scoring at 5 for 2 in the 3rd over.
Lyndell Richardson got three fours in his 14, one off the fourth over from Raymon Reifer, who shared the new ball with Beaton but lacked the pace in comparison to the bean-pole Essequibian, and two off Beaton, before he looked to chalk up his fourth four off Beaton and picked out Permaul at gully at 24 for 3.
Skipper Devon Thomas (13, 2×4) and Orlando Peters (18, 4×4) pushed the score to 44, with Peters hitting Reifer for two fours in one over, while Thomas opened his account with a first ball four off Beaton before the introduction of Bishoo saw the demise of Peters, who was bowled by a flipper.
Permaul got into the act when he removed Jahmar Hamilton without scoring, which was followed by the wicket of Thomas and Jacques Taylor (04) who both fell to Bishoo, while Permaul removed Tonge (07) at 56 for 7.
At this stage, it did not look as if the visitors would reach 75, but Martin and the left handed Yannick Leonard who was unbeaten on 13 when the innings was over, fought back with their 37 runs ninth wicket partnership, weathering the guile of Bishoo and Permaul and later the pace of Beaton.
Martin had three fours, including a sweetly timed straight drive off Permaul, before he became over-confident and was caught at the wicket by Anthony Bramble, while a Shivnarine Chanderpaul throw to Bishoo found Kelbert Walters short of his crease before he had faced a ball.
Permaul had 3 for 18, Beaton 3 for 26 and Bishoo 3 for 31 for the Jaguars, whose solitary over in the Leeward Islands’ second innings, yielded four byes in fading light.
Earlier in the day, the Jaguars lost Barnwell within the first hour of play, lbw to a faster delivery from Martin at 248 for 6, with his contribution being 33, an innings that included five fours, with Deonarine unbeaten on 81 as Bramble strolled to the wicket.
The Albion Cricket Club pair added 67 for the seventh wicket, with Bramble hitting Martin for a four along the ground, followed by a six over extra cover, while Deonarine inched to his ton, which he got off 257 balls with nine fours whilst batting for 356 minutes.
Shortly after, Bramble picked out Leonard at long on off Taylor, while Tonge removed Permaul (04) on the stroke of lunch which was taken at 320 for 8 with Deonarine on 101, and even though Bishoo contributed 14 to the total, Tonge (4 for 60) and Taylor 2 for 71 ensured the home team did not pile on the runs after the break.
Deonarine faced 278 deliveries while batting for 400 minutes during which time he struck nine fours for his 10th first class ton, which was an unbeaten one.

Scorecard
Leeward Islands 2nd innings

A Richards not out 00 Guyana Jaguars 1st innings (O/night 230 for 5)
R. Chandrika run out (Thomas) 31
A Fudadin lbw b Peters 06
L Johnson c wkpr Thomas b Tonge 31
N Deonarine not out 110
S Chanderpaul c wkpr Thomas b Taylor 45
R Reifer lbw b Tonge 18
C Barnwell lbw b Martin 33
A Bramble c Leonard b Taylor 46
V Permaul lbw b Leonard 04
D Bishoo lbw b Tonge 14
R Beaton lbw b Tonge 00
Extras (lb-3, nb-1, b-1) 05
Total (all out off 126.5 overs)343
Fall of wicket: 1-14 (Fudadin, 7.4), 2-62 (Chandrika 27.1), 3-86 (Johnson (34.3), 4-169 (Chanderpaul 69.5), 5-199 (R. Reifer 80.5), 6-248 (Barnwell 97.5), 7-315 (Bramble 116.4), 8-320 (Permaul 117.5), 9-341 (124.2)
Bowling: Tonge 23.5-6-60-4 Walters 13-1-31-0 Peters 18-2-48-1 Leonard 18-2-74-1 Taylor 26-3-71-2 (nb1) Martin 28-12-55-1

Leeward Islands 1st Innings
L Richardson c Permaul b Beaton 14
A Richards lbw b Beaton 00
A Saunders b Beaton 00
O Peters b Bishoo 18
D Thomas lbw b Bishoo 13
J Hamilton c wkpr Bramble b Permaul 00
J Taylor c&b Bishoo 04
G Tonge lbw b Permaul 07
Y Leonard not out 13
A Martin c wkpr Bramble b Permaul 25
K Walters run out (Chanderpaul) 00
Total (all out off 47.1 overs) 94
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Richards, 2.5) 2-5 (Saunders, 4.5), 3-24 (Richardson, 10.4), 4-44 (Peters 19.5), 5-45 (Hamilton 22.5), 6-45 (Thomas, 23.1) 7-56 (Tonge 28.3), 8-56 (Taylor 29.2), 9-93 (Martin, 47), 10-94 (Walters 47.1).
Bowling: Beaton 11-5-26-3 Reifer 4-1-15-0 Permaul 15-9-18-3, Barnwell 1-0-4-0, Bishoo16.1-4-31-3

Leeward Islands 2nd innings

A Richards not out 00
L Richardson not out 00
Extras (b-4) 04
Total (without loss) 04
To Bat: A Saunders O. Peters *+D Thomas J Hamilton J Taylor G Tonge Y Leonard A Martin K Walters
Bowling: Permaul 1-1-0-0

(By Calvin Roberts)