… Hemraj, bowlers control Day 3

By Clifton Ross 

THE GUYANA Jaguars maintained their stranglehold on Trinidad Red Force as the visitors were staring at a massive 281-run target for victory, with just 4 wickets left in the bank going into the final day’s play at Providence. 

Resuming on 53-0 when play began on the penultimate day with a 278-run lead on the board, Jaguars eventually declared on 177-5 in 64 overs batting a second time, leaving Red Force staring at a 402-run target for a win.

Opener Chandrapaul Hemraj was his usual classy self, playing a wide range of strokes on his way to 54, while Vishaul Singh ended on 37 not out and opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul 33.

Red Force spinner Bryan Charles followed up his 1st innings 5-for with 2-58, ending the match with 7 wickets overall to claim the best bowler tag for the visitors.

When play ended on Day 3, Red Force were holding on by a thread at 122-6 with their entire top-order back in the pavilion and Kjorn Ottley (13*) and Akeal Hosein (5*) the men to resume on the final day.

Red Force 2nd-innings primary scorers; Jeremy Solozano (34), Jason Mohamed (33) and Yannick Cariah (27) offered some hope before they too were dismissed.

Similar to the first innings, Keon Joseph (2-15) removed opener Keagan Simmons this time for a duck, as the chase got off to a horrible start prior to tea, when the visitors were sent into bat following the declaration.

Joseph served up an absolute bullet which was too fast for Red Force skipper Bravo, who was bowled for 2 runs, failing in both innings.

At 5-2, Solozano was again subjected to watching his teammates fall one by one but remained unfazed along with Mohamed as they took their score to 18-2 at tea.

The final session of Day 3 resumed with the Jaguars looking to wrap up the hunt as spinners Kevin Sinclair (1-44) had Solozano given out lbw after a period of resistance.

The seasoned Veerasammy Permaul (2-25) removed the pair of Mohamed and Joshua DaSilva (8) as he reached his 500-wicket milestone playing for Guyana.

Cariah’s resistance ended, courtesy of the leg-break spinner Devendra Bishoo (1-9) who had him adjudged leg-before-wicket, minutes before umpires lifted bails.

Earlier in the day, the overnight pair of Chanderpaul and Hemraj resumed their innings after dominating on Day 2.

Hemraj found the ropes 5 times on his way to half-century number two of the season, before being bowled by West Indies teammate, Bravo.

Charles got into the action early on by removing Jaguars skipper Leon Johnson (15) who fell in similar fashion, pinned lbw to a spinner.

The off-spinner added another scalp to his collection when the in-form Chanderpaul misread a delivery which crashed into his pads and he was given out lbw.

Nevertheless, Guyana extended their lead to 361 when the lunch interval arrived with Singh 14, Chris Barnwell on 15 and the Champs solid on 136-3.

Red Force flipped the script on the home team when Kjorn Ottley trapped Barnwell lbw for 21, followed by first-innings top-scorer Anthony Bramble who was bowled with a beauty to seal a magical double-wicket maiden over.

All-rounder Sinclair ended on 13* while Singh was also left stranded on 37* when Johnson called for the declaration a few overs before the tea break.

Action in the final day will bowl off at 09:30hrs as Jaguars look to secure an early win.