Simmons hits unbeaten 204 as T&T take control
THANKS to Lendl Simmons’ unbeaten double-century, visitors Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) took control of their seventh round West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional four-day match against Guyana at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday. Replying to T&T’s mammoth 434-5 declared, of which Simmons scored 202*, Guyana slipped from 52 without loss to 90 for 5, losing five wickets for 38 runs, before they ended the day on 137-5, with Rajendra Chandrika and Derwin Christian on 77 and 16 respectively.
Amit Jaggernauth (3-30) and Imran Khan (2-47) have done the damage with the ball for the Trinidadians, who will be looking to restrict their hosts before they reached the follow on target of 284 runs today, a task that should not be difficult, since the Guyanese batting has been brittle throughout the tournament.
Resuming at their overnight 291 for four, with Simmons on 134 and Denesh Ramdin 32, Simmons reached his 150 from 272 balls and 385 minutes batting, hitting 10 fours and one six struck over wide long on off Permaul.
He celebrated with a four along the ground to long off, off the bowling of Steven Jacobs, posting the 100-run partnership between himself and Ramdin who was on 45 at the time.
Guyana took the second new ball after 101 overs at 327 for 4, with Simmons on 156 and Ramdin 46. Simmons took advantage of the harder ball, by turning teenage fast bowler Ransford Beaton to fine leg for the 12th four of his innings.
Ramdin duly brought up his 17th first class half-century off 101 balls with four fours, batting for 140 minutes, and after the first hour’s play on the second day, T&T were 360 for 4, with Simmons surpassing his previous best of 167 against Guyana, on 173 while Ramdin had reached 61.
Guyana struck in the first over after the drinks break, when Jacobs removed Ramdin via lbw for 62 made off 112 balls with five fours while batting for 163 minutes. But most importantly, he added 138 for the fifth wicket from 39.3 overs with Simmons who was on 174 when Imran Khan joined him.
Two fours by Imran Khan off Jacobs, pushed T&T to 384 for 5 and at lunch, they were 418 for 5 with Simmons inching closer to his second double-century in his 72nd first class match. He got there in fine style, when he hit Narsingh Deonarine over long on for his third six from the 354th ball he faced in 488 minutes.
T&T declared their first innings closed in the following over, seven minutes after lunch. Simmons was on 202 and Imran Khan 37 – the two adding 72 unbroken runs for the sixth wicket. Simmons faced 355 balls, hitting 12 fours and three sixes in his 202 while Khan struck six fours from 51 balls in 55 minutes of batting.
Chandrika and Leon Johnson got things started for the home team, with Johnson steering Shannon Gabriel to third man for 4 that pushed the score to 27 without loss after 12 overs, forcing Daren Ganga to introduce his younger brother Sherwin into the attack.
At tea, Guyana had progressed to 36 without loss, with Johnson and Chandrika who both looked solid in defence, on 19 and 13 respectively. After the break, Chandrika pulled an Imran Khan full toss to the backward square leg boundary for his first four.
Guyana reached their 50 when Chandrika drove Imran Khan through point for four in the 27th over, before they lost Johnson who was lbw to Amit Jaggernauth for 25 made off 80 balls with two fours while batting for 112 minutes in the next over, to leave Guyana on 52-1, with Chandrika on 23.
Deonarine (5) replaced Johnson and he did not hang around long enough to pose any problems for the Trinidadians, as he went lbw to Imran Khan. At 61-2, in reply to T&T’s mammoth first innings score, Guyana’s spineless batting began to show up once again.
Chandrika struck another four all along the ground off Jaggernauth and when he drove Imran Khan through point for his fifth four, he had pushed his score to 39 and Guyana’s to 79 for 2, with Fudadin on 6, before Fudadin was bowled by Jaggernauth.
Vishal Singh was lbw playing back to Imran Khan for 4 and he was quickly followed by Jacobs who offered Jaggernauth a return catch off the first ball he faced, to leave Guyana on 90 for 5, which should have been 90-6, had Jason Mohammed taken the chance offered by Derwin Christian off Jaggernauth before he had scored.
Chandrika duly posted his second half-century at this level off 137 balls in 178 minutes, hitting five fours, while Guyana reached their 100 from 47.1 overs, before Christian hoisted Jaggernauth to long off for four that pushed the score to 110 for 5, before they reached their final score at the end of the day.
To date , Chandrika has faced 177 balls in  122 minutes at the crease, hitting 10 fours with his partner Christian batting for 52 minutes and hitting one four from the 46 nalls he faced, as they added 47 valuable runs for the sixth wicket for Guyana who need another 298 runs for first innings points.