OFF-spinner Steven Jacobs and left-arm orthodox spinner Raj Nannan fought back for Vishaul Singh’s XI, at the end of a rain-interrupted second day in the Cricket Guy Inc. four-day practice encounter at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.

Responding to Singh’s XI first-innings score of 349, Johnson’s XI were 106 for 4 at the end of the day’s play, trailing by 233 runs with Narsingh Deonarine on 23 and Christopher Barnwell on 4, as Jacobs and Nannan have so far taken two wickets each for 27 and 32 runs respectively.
Earlier in the day, Singh’s XI resumed on their overnight score of 311 for 6 with Chandrapaul Hemraj on 39 and Ricardo Adams yet to score and failed to survive the bowling of Veerasammy Permaul who ended with 8 for 96, as they were bowled out for 349 despite losing the entire first session due to early morning showers.
Hemraj stuck three fours and two sixes in his 42, while Ricardo Adams had two fours, one each off Permaul and Narsingh Deonarine in his 14, before Narsingh Deonarine (1 for 62) removed Hemraj caught by Trevon Griffith at 314 for 7.
Ricardo Adams and Kemo Paul, whose 12 included a six off Deonarine, inched the score to 336 before Paul was caught at the wicket by Anthony Bramble off Permaul at 336 for 8, even as Permaul bowled Adams to close off the innings.
In their reply, Griffith and Rajendra Chandrika started positively, with both batsmen hitting Raun Johnson for boundaries through extra cover in the ninth over of the innings, prompting Singh to call on Steven Jacobs’ off-spin with the aim of quietening the rampaging openers.
The introduction of Raj Nannan saw the demise of Chandrika who was caught at short extra cover by Singh for 29 (3×4), followed soon after by Griffith who was lbw to Jacobs for 20 (3×4) at 56 for 2 on the stroke of tea, with Leon Johnson who had replaced Chandrika, on 2.
After tea, Johnson was joined by Deonarine and together they pushed the score to 92, with both batsmen hitting Nannan and Jacobs who bowled in tandem for boundaries, while Johnson cleared the ropes once off Jacobs, before Shimron Hetmyer took a well-judged catch under the bat to account for Johnson 19 (2×4, 1×6) off Nannan.
Jacobs removed the dependable Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2), who was taken by Hetmyer at forward short-leg in the following over off a leading edge, as Jacobs extracted bounce and turn off the strip, before light showers and bad light stopped play at 16:00hrs with Johnson’s XI trailing by 233 runs.

(By Calvin Roberts)