THANKS to some incisive fast bowling from former West Indies Under-19 speedster Keon Joseph, Guyana enjoyed a wonderful session in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board sponsored Regional 4Day tournament, doing so on the opening day of their seventh round encounter against Jamaica at the Guyana National Stadium, yesterday.
Joseph snared three early wickets within the first hour of play to rock the double defending champions’ top order batting and left them shakily placed on 12 for 4, before Carlton Baugh played a resilient innings to deny Guyana dismissing the

Jamaicans cheaply.
At the close of play, the double defending champions who started the round as joint leaders on the points table with 48 points, the same as the Windward Islands, were 204 for 9 thanks to Baugh’s unbeaten 78 (146b, 5×4, 214minutes).
The 30 year old Baugh featured in two prolific partnerships for Jamaica, adding 30 for the sixth wicket with David Bernard Jnr (29) and a further 89 for the seventh wicket with Nikita Miller 42 that saw the Jamaicans to their close of play score.
Joseph started the new ball in tandem with Ronsford Beaton  and having removed Danza Hyatt (01) and Brenton Parchment (01), saw Beaton send Nkrumah Bonner (01) back into the pavilion, before the first of four rain breaks stopped play at 10:46hrs with Jamaica 9 for 3.
That became 12 for 4, when Joseph rattled the middle and leg stumps of the burly Tamar Lambert (00), before Jermaine Blackwood and Bernard Jr added 46 for the fifth wicket, with the former hitting both Joseph and Beaton for boundaries to long on.
The second stoppage for rain occurred at 11:38hrs with Jamaica 23 for 4 with Blackwood on 13 and Bernard Jr on 6. After lunch, Jamaica posted their 50 from 18.4 overs with Blackwood on 28 and Bernard Jr 17.
But soon after the resumption of play Jamaica lost Blackwood who was lbw to Veerasammy Permaul for 37 (54balls, 5×4), before Baugh and Bernard Jr came together and started Operation Recovery for Jamaica.
When rain stopped play for the third time at 13:35hrs, followed by another rain interruption 29 minutes later, Jamaica were 82 for 5, with Bernard Jr on 28 and Baugh Jr 13, following which the Jamaicans lost Bernard Jr who was smartly stumped by Anthony Bramble off Bishoo for 29.
Following the fourth stoppage, Baugh Jr buckled down in tandem with Miller, Jamaica’s last ball hero in the Super50 contest on Sunday last, to bring some respectability to their team’s total, as the Guyanese dropped their guard in the field.
Joseph was brought back into the attack by Permaul from the Pavilion End and met a stubborn Baugh Jr, who punched him through extra cover for 4, before he posted his 20th first class half century off 83 balls, hitting three fours whilst batting for 122 minutes.
Together with Miller who faced 81 deliveries and struck five fours in his 42, Baugh Jr offered no respite for Guyana until Miller was lbw to Jacobs at 177 for 7, a wicket that was quickly followed by that of Andrew Richardson and Odean Browne, who were both lbw to Bishoo for 01 and 07 respectively.
Sheldon Cotterell joined Baugh Jr and they pushed the score to 204 for 9, before bad light brought an end to the day’s proceedings at 17:09hrs, with Baugh Jr on 78 and Cotterell 03, while Joseph and Bishoo has so far taken 3 wickets for 49 and 51 runs respectively.