JONATHAN Foo stroked a classy half-century as Anthony Adams XI ended day one of their second 2-day practice match against Leon Johnson’s XI, in a strong position heading into the final day.

The second and final practice game before the January 9 start of the Regional 4-Day tournament was reduced by a day compared to the first match which lasted three days at Providence.

When bails were lifted, Johnson’s XI were firmly placed on 85-1, trailing by 159 runs. Windies left-hander Chandrapaul Hemraj cruised to 46 not out with four fours and two sixes, sharing a second-wicket stand of 79 with his skipper Johnson, who made 23 not out with 2 fours.

Opener Tevin Imlach was the only Adams’ XI wicket to fall, trapped leg-before-wicket for one run by Ronaldo Alimohamed.

It was a good bowling outing for Johnson’s men as left-arm pacer Raymond Reifer started with 3 for 18, getting his rhythm going ahead of the season.

Spin twins Kevin Sinclair 3-35 and Veerasammy Permaul 2-72 offered much support to the seamer, as the Adams’ XI ended on 244 all out in their first innings.

Fresh off some Regional Super50 form, Foo batted for more than 100 minutes for his 60 with 5 fours and added 57 for the 6th wicket with all-rounder Ronaldo Alimohamed who hit 4 fours and two sixes in his 39.

Raymon Perez scored 46 and Akshaya Persaud chipped in with 32 to help take their team to a solid first-innings total.

Batting first under good sunshine, Trevon Griffith looked feisty as usual, smashing four fours and a six in his 24, before falling to the skill of Reifer who had him caught by Permaul.

Griffith’s aggression and Perez’s class mixed well as the Adams’ XI lost their first wicket for 55 runs.

Perez looked fluent and seemed to continue from his second innings in the last game where he made 40, but was knocked over by seamer Chris Barnwell for 46 with quadruple fours and a pair of maximums.

Persaud stroked five fours as it looked like a good score was on his cards before the experienced arm of Devendra Bishoo caused some disturbance to his wicket.

Permaul then got into the action, with his long-time buddy Bishoo, as he bowled Kemol Savory for 4 before trapping Ricardo Adams lbw for 3.

Foo carried his bat and eventually reached his milestone before he eventually lost his wicket which then saw the tail being exposed.

The final day’s play bowls off at 09:30hrs today. (Clifton Ross)