HAVING lost their first round match to defending champions Jamaica inside three days, hosts Barbados rebounded to place themselves in a commanding position over Guyana, taking first innings points on the second day of their second round West Indies Cricket Board four-day matchup at the Kensington Oval yesterday. Resuming on their overnight score of 267 for 4, Barbados added 100 runs before being bowled out for 367 off 105.2 overs. Their bowlers, led by Miguel Cummins 4 for 42 and off-spinner  Ashley Nurse  4 for 74, dismissed the visitors for 225 off 60 overs.
Asked to face a solitary over to end the day’s play, the home team openers in Kraigg Brathwaite and Rashidi Boucher, negotiated the lone over from Veerasammy Permaul, even though they did not add to their lead.
Having failed to take the new ball, the Guyanese spinners, led by Permaul’s 3 for 82, Steven Jacobs’ 2 for 61 and Devendra Bishoo’s 2 for 82, dismissed the home team’s batting 25 minutes before lunch, while they reached 11 without loss at the interval, with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 5 and Rajendra Chandrika 6, slipping to 41 for 3 after the break.
Chanderpaul (5) steered a delivery to Searles at gully off Jordan, while Chandrika (11) and Jacobs (0), who never looked comfortable against the short deliveries from both Cummins and Jordan, singled out Dowrich and Searles for catching practice off Cummins, with Jacobs facing 28 deliveries.
Barbados removed Leon Johnson, who lost his off stump to Nurse for 46, having faced 71 deliveries in 108 minutes and hitting four fours and two sixes minutes before tea which came with Guyana on 89 for 4, with Assad Fudadin 9 and Christopher Barnwell yet to score.
An authoritative drive from Barnwell raced past Roston Chase at cover off Searles for four, while a Fudadin four through cover point off Nurse raised the team’s 100 off 32 overs, with Fudadin on 13 and Barnwell 7, before Fudadin was lbw to Nurse for 14.
Both Barnwell and Christian welcomed Jonathan Carter into the attack with fours to long leg, before Nurse removed Barnwell, courtesy of a catch at the wicket by Dowrich.
Permaul, who will be replaced by Zaheer Mohammed in this contest from today, fought back for his team, hitting boundaries at will off Nurse and Chase, before a stupendous catch by Jordan, who grasped the offer low to his left at solitary slip, accounted for Permaul.
The Guyanese skipper made 34 off 30 deliveries batting for 26 minutes and hitting six fours, adding 45 valuable runs for the seventh wicket with Christian 37 (40b, 2×4, 2×6), who later added 45 for the eighth wicket with Beaton whose vital 10-runs 10th-wicket partnership ensured Barbados batted a second time.
Beaton was unbeaten on 30 (59balls, 4×4), when Keon Joseph was caught by Kirk Edwards at cover off Cummins for 6, bringing Guyana’s innings to a close and handing Barbados a handsome 142 runs lead on first innings, which they failed to add to, as Permaul sent down a solitary, maiden over to Kraigg Brathwaite.
Earlier in the day, Edwards and Chase started their team’s innings with their respective scores showing 110 and 24 respectively, before the latter got a leading edge back to Veerasammy Permaul after adding four to his overnight score, in the fourth over of the day.
Six overs later Edwards, who was given a life by Fudadin on the opening day, got a thick outside edge through to Leon Johnson also off Permaul for 120 (195b, 313m, 13×4, 2×6), leaving Barbados on 290 for 6 within the first hour of play.
They raised the 300 off 85 overs, thanks to Shane Dowrich’s six that was struck over long on off Permaul, with the batsman being given a reprieve by Ronsford Beaton, who grassed a head-high chance at point off Steven Jacobs, when he was on 28 shortly after, with Barbados 329 for 6.
A vital 48 runs seventh-wicket partnership between Dowrich and Chris Jordan 23 (39b, 4×4) pushed Barbados to 338, with Jordan hitting Devendra Bishoo for back-to-back fours through forward square leg before he feathered one through to wicketkeeper Derwin Christian off Jacobs.
Nevertheless, Guyana mopped up the home team’s tail quickly, as Bishoo accounted for Javon Searles (2) and Dowrich who was stumped by Christian for 39 (2×6, 2×4, 85b), while Jacobs had Ashley Nurse caught by Joseph at long on.
All told, Barbados were bowled out inside 32 overs on the second day, with Permaul Jacobs and Bishoo bowling 69.2 of the 105.2 overs sent down, while Beaton was only used for two overs earlier in the day.

BARBADOS first innings (o/night 267 for 4)
K. Brathwaite c wkp. Christian b Joseph 1
R. Boucher c wkp. Christian b Beaton 28
K. Edwards c Johnson b Permaul 120
K. Hope c Chandrika b Permaul 16
J. Carter c wkp. Christian b Johnson 85
R. Chase c & b Permaul 28
S. Dowrich stp. wkpr Christian b Bishoo 39
C. Jordan c wkp. Christian b Jacobs 23
A. Nurse c Joseph b Jacobs 19
J. Searles lbw Bishoo 2
M. Cummins not out 0
Extras: (lb-4, w-2) 6
Total: (all out, off 105.2 overs) 367
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-33, 3-73, 4-237, 5-273, 6-290, 7-338, 8-364, 9-366.
Bowling: Beaton 19-5-46-1, Barnwell 8-1-39-0 (w-2), Joseph 9-1-39-1, Permaul 25-7-82-3, Jacobs 20-4-61-2, Bishoo 23.2-3-84-2, Johnson 1-0-2-1.
GUYANA 1st innings
R. Chandrika c wkp. Dowrich b Cummins 11
T. Chanderpaul c Searles b Jordan 5
L. Johnson b Nurse 46
S. Jacobs c Searles b Cummins 0
A. Fudadin lbw Nurse 14
C. Barnwell c wkp. Dowrich b Nurse 23
D. Christian lbw Cummins 37
V. Permaul c Jordan b Chase 34
D. Bishoo c Jordan b Nurse    0
R. Beaton not out 30
K. Joseph c Edwards b Cummins 6
Extras: (b-4, lb-5, nb-10) 19
Total: (all out off 60 overs) 225
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-20, 3-41, 4-89, 5-107, 6-124, 7-169, 8-170, 9-215.
Bowling:  Jordan 11-1-33-1 (nb-3), Cummins 13-1-42-4 (nb-5), Searles 10-3-31-0 (nb-2), Nurse 18-2-74-4; Carter 1-0-10-0, Chase 7-1-26-0.
BARBADOS 2nd innings
K. Brathwaite not out 0
R. Boucher not out 0
Total: (off 1 over) 0
Bowling: Permaul 1-1-0-0.