… Hemraj misses maiden ton
DESPITE seeing their middle-order batsman Chandrapaul Hemraj missing out on his maiden ton, host Guyana were in sight of victory at the end of the second day of their first round West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Under-19 match against the Leeward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday.
Scores to date; Leeward Islands 107 and 112 for 6, Guyana 317 for 9 declared. Guyana resumed at their overnight score of 151 for 3 and after Hemraj who was on 72 turned the first delivery off his legs for 3, the heavens opened and forced the players off the field of play for 43 minutes and on the resumption, Hemraj went in search of his maiden ton at this level.
He added 17 to his overnight score, before he was caught at short midwicket by Akeem Saunders off Shaquille Martina’s first delivery when play resumed at 13:30hrs, following another rain interruption that lasted for 100 minutes.
He faced 168 balls and struck 11 fours while batting for 243 minutes, during which time he added 117 runs for the fourth wicket with Crosse, who reached his 50 from 163 balls and 231 minutes batting, hitting five fours in the process.
Crosse was later given a life by Cornwall who grassed an easy chance offered by the left-handed middle order batsman when he looked to drive Martina somewhere between cover and extra cover and rubbed salt into the wound, by hitting the next delivery through the same area for four.
In looking to accelerate the scoring, Guyana lost Crosse who was caught by Larry Audain off Chavil Archibald for 61 (182 balls, 6×4), Joemal La Fleur (10), Anthony Adams and Amir Khan who both made 4, to be 266 for 8.
Some pugnacious hitting from Clinton Pestano who made 43 off 50 deliveries with five fours and skipper Ronsford Beaton who struck an unbeaten 39 with three sixes and one four, carried Guyana to 317 for 9 off 92 overs before they made the declaration 10 minutes before the rescheduled tea break.
Cornwall ended with 4 for 83 and received support from Audain who took 2 for 56, but when the visitors began their second innings with a deficit of 210 runs, they lost Duan Webb who was bowled first ball by Beaton without scoring.
Elijah Peters responded to the demise of Webb, by hitting Pestano for four while Martina punched Beaton through point for another boundary as Leeward Islands raced to 18 for 1 inside the third over of their second innings.
Spin in the form of La Fleur and Adams was introduced inside the first six overs of the Leewards’ second innings and Guyana struck immediately when Peters was caught by Hemraj at slip off a La Fleur arm-ball for 11 and he was followed by Martina who was lbw to Adams for 12, to leave the opposition on 23 for 3.
Saunders greeted Gudakesh Motie’s first delivery after the final drinks break for the day for four back over his head, as the Leewards reached their 50 from 19.4 overs, before Audain was lbw to Khan for 7 shortly after.
They inched to 73 for 4 when Saunders pulled a short delivery from Adams though backward square leg for four and later pulled a short delivery from Khan through midwicket for his fifth four as he pushed his score to 37.
As he did in his team’s first innings, Cornwall pummeled the home team bowling attack by hitting Motie over midwicket for 6 to raise the 100 in the second innings in the 34th over, as the shadows lengthened across the venue.
Saunders’ resilient innings came to an end when he was caught by Adams at mid on, giving Motie his maiden wicket at this level for 44 made off 111 balls and 100 minutes batting, hitting six fours while adding 56 for the fifth wicket with Cornwall and was quickly followed by Cleon Reece who was caught by Dominique Rikhi at forward short leg off Khan without scoring.
At the close of play, the Leewards were 112 for 6 from 36 overs, still needing a further 98 runs to make Guyana bat again with four wickets in hand. Their burly skipper is still at the wicket on 34 made off 32 balls with five fours and one six while Khan has so far taken 2 for 29 for Guyana.