The Jamaica Scorpions suffered the ignominy of being soundly beaten in their first three games in the Cricket West Indies Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day competition after the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force completed the formalities to come away with a 157-run win on yesterday's final day at Sabina Park in Kingston.
It was another episode of total dominance at the National Stadium, Providence, when Guyana Jaguars defeated Windward Islands Volcanoes, by eight wickets on day four. Jaguars recorded their fourth victory in as many rounds, with Keemo Paul starring with the ball, ending with career-best match figures: 10 wickets, 129 runs after bowling 35 overs in both innings.
With a small target of 117 required for victory, the big Berbician, Shimron Hetmyer thrilled the supporters at Providence playing flourishing shots during his volatile 61 from 28 balls, including five maximums. Hetmyer hit sixes into the media centre, into the grass mound, the red stand and the cheerful green stand.
Earlier in the day, Volcanoes Captain Kirk Edwards reached his 10th First-Class century to lead the visitors’ fightback at Providence. Edwards’ 139 took his team to 361 all out with wicketkeeper Denis Smith playing a fighting knock of 67, which ensured Volcanoes a lead of 116. The final-day proceedings of the fourth round between Guyana Jaguars and Windward Islands Volcanoes began with Paul bowling to Edwards. Volcanoes resumed the day on 167-3, under perfect weather, at the National Stadium. Edwards scored the first run of the day when he worked a Paul delivery into the leg side, at mid-on, where Veerasammy Permaul gave a sharp return.
JAMAICA Scorpions face an uphill task of getting by Trinidad and Tobago Red Force heading into the final day of play, as they seek to avoid a third-consecutive defeat and second on the trot at home in the 2018-19 West Indies Four-Day Cricket Championship.
The Scorpions, requiring 325 for victory, once again squandered a positive start by openers Oraine Williams (56) and Chadwick Walton (26) in the match at Sabina Park. They were labouring at 108-5 at close yesterday, requiring a further 217 runs with five second innings wickets remaining.
Guyanese-born left-hander Assad Fudadin, not out on six, and Rovman Powell, on two, will return to the middle for the Scorpions with play set to resume this morning.
Earlier the Red Force, resuming their second innings on 62-2, slipped through the grasp of the Scorpions, as they went on to post 233, adding to their 91-run first-innings lead.
Scores: Red Force 203 (66 overs) & 233 (92.4 overs); Scorpions 112 (38.3 overs) & 108-5 (37 overs).
FOUR-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars continued their dominance for the third consecutive day, leaving Windward Islands Volcanoes with the ominous task of surviving today’s final day of their fourth round Cricket West Indies Regional Four-day encounter. Forced to follow-on, the visiting side batted with more purpose in their second innings to reach 167-3 at stumps on the penultimate day of the match at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Seamers Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul and Sherfane Rutherford bore their responsibilities manfully and frugally, claiming a wicket apiece. The experienced Devon Smith made a resolute 65 but captain Kirk Edwards and Kavem Hodge were left unbeaten on 40 and three respectively. The Volcanoes are still 78 runs behind.
Earlier, Paul claimed his third five-wicket haul to trigger Volcanoes’ batting collapse that saw them concede a huge first-innings lead of 245 runs. It was a clear indication that the tourists’ batsmen had no answers to Paul’s accurate seam-bowling, resulting in the 20-year-old ending with figures of 6-57 from 17 overs. Fellow pacer Shepherd claimed 2-47 while left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul took 2-38.
CWI: Media Release;ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – A destructive spell from Keemo Paul followed up a painstaking, second first-class hundred for Tagenarine Chanderpaul to rock Windward Islands Volcanoes and put front-runners Guyana Jaguars in charge of their West Indies Championship match on Friday here.
Paul grabbed 4-24 from eight overs to blow away the Volcanoes top-order after Chanderpaul, son of WINDIES batting legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, became the second century-maker in the Jaguars innings with an undefeated 117 that tightened the grip of the four-time champions on the contest at the Guyana National Stadium after the second day of the fourth round of matches.
Volcanoes made a steady start in response to the Jags’ challenging first innings total before Paul disrupted their flow with a burst of wickets.
The visitors slumped from 38 without loss to 81 for five in 80 deliveries in the space of an hour before Alick Athanaze, not out on 25, and Denis Smith, not out on three, batted through 35 minutes before stumps were drawn.
Earlier, Chanderpaul gave proof that he might be a chip off the old block, when he converted his overnight 71 into a hundred, facing 484 deliveries in nine hours and 20 minutes at the crease, and striking 10 fours.
After the Jaguars resumed from their overnight total of 307 for six, he extended his seventh-wicket stand with Romario Shepherd to 121, as Jaguars reached lunch on 403 without further loss.
Shepherd struck six fours and two sixes in a career-best 72 off 142 deliveries in just over 2 ¾ hours before he was one three wickets that fell to prompt a Jaguars declaration about half-hour before tea.
Josh Thomas was the most successful Volcanoes bowler with 4-94 from 25 overs.
Scores in brief:Jaguars (454-9 dec) vs Volcanoes 99-5 in Providence, Guyana
Red Force vs Scorpions
At the other end of the Caribbean archipelago – Scorpions batting woes in the Championship continued, as they conceded a 91-run first innings lead and Red Force ended the day lead by 153 with eight first innings wickets standing, including WINDIES batting star Darren Bravo, not out on 20.
Bravo, playing for Red Force for the first time in three years in the Championship, batted close to an hour to anchor the visitors to the close and give them hope for “a brighter tomorrow”.
Earlier, Red Force, resuming on 135 for seven, earned a batting point thanks to left-hander Yannic Cariah with a top score of 61 that included six fours and a six from 116 balls in just over 2 ¾ hours.
He put on a vital 78 for eighth wicket with Khary Pierre and added 29 for the ninth wicket with Daniel St to get Red Force past the 200-run threshold.
Veteran Scorpions left-arm spinner Nikita Miller was the wrecker-in-chief with 5-62 from 18 overs and Rovman Powell ended with 3-40 from 12 overs.
Scorpions ran into early strife at 29 for two and though Chadwick Walton led the way with 35 and their captain Paul Palmer made 26, there was not enough substance to prop up their batting.
Phillips finished with 3-26 from eight overs, fellow pacers Odean Smith and Daniel St Clair along with left-arm spinner Khary Pierre, collected two wickets apiece.
Scores in brief; Red Force (203) & 62-2 vs Scorpions (112) in Kingston, Jamaica
CWI/CPL media Release: St John’s, ANTIGUA - The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have agreed a window for the 2019 edition of the tournament. This year’s event will take place between 21 August and 27 September. The opening round of matches will take place in Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana before returning to these two countries for the playoffs and finals once again.
For the second successive year the very best of the cricketing talent in the Caribbean will be taking part in the tournament with WINDIES centrally contracted players available for the majority of the tournament.
As well as the very best Caribbean cricketers, fans can look forward to the top players the sport has to offer descending on the Caribbean for 34 matches of high intensity cricket. The Biggest Party in Sport is coming back, and the plan is for it to be even bigger.
Speaking about the window for the tournament, Pete Russell, COO of Hero CPL, said: “We are very pleased to be playing our tournament in August and September for the third successive year and we have now agreed that this will be the time of year that CPL takes place for the next five seasons. Fans now associate this time of year with Hero CPL and we have already started work on bringing the party to life in 2019. Having the best Caribbean cricketers and the world’s best overseas is what our tournament is all about, and this window gives us that.”
Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI, said: “The Hero CPL has developed into one of the best and most exciting T20 competitions in the world and we look forward to hosting another successful tournament later this year. We are pleased that we have been able to find a window in our WINDIES International calendar to ensure that all the best Caribbean cricketers can take part, as the tournament plays a crucial role in our preparations and planning for the T20 World Cup in 2020.”
The Jamaica Scorpions hold the advantage at the end of an interesting and quite unusual first day against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the WICB Professional Cricket League Regional Four-day match at Sabina Park yesterday.
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force reached 134 for seven in the 38 overs possible for the day, but it was the long stoppage caused by a damp and dangerous pitch that was the main talking point.
The visitors, after being sent into bat, faced a torrid time from local pacers Oshane Thomas and Reynard Leveridge who got a few balls to kick alarmingly. Kyle Hope was unlucky to get one from Thomas that stopped and jumped from a good length and offered a regulation catch to gully.
That brought in Darren Bravo, and virtually from the first ball he faced, he was seen complaining about the nature of the pitch. After scoring six, he got one that bounced disconcertingly from Leveridge, and was hit on the upper body. The umpires, you could sense, were getting concerned.
The next over from Thomas saw Jeremy Solozano get one that nearly decapitated him, again from a length. Solozano then slapped the next ball straight to point to be out for 11 while Bravo continued to protest. With Jason Mohammed coming out to bat with the mannerisms of a man going to the gallows, umpires Chris Taylor and Deighton Butler decided that enough was enough. After just five overs, the umpires decided that they would have to give the pitch time to dry out. The score was then 23 for two after just under 30 minutes play, following a 10 a.m. start.
The opening day of the fourth-round clash at Providence between Guyana Jaguars and Windward Island Volcanoes belonged to Anthony Bramble who notched up an impressive 168. Bramble’s innings included 17 fours and six sixes in 189 minutes. Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who faced the first and final ball of the day, remained unbeaten on 71 off 298 balls with Romario Shepherd on five off 21 balls. Under clear skies at the National Stadium Providence, Guyana, the Guyana Jaguars Captain, Leon Johnson won the toss and opted to bat first. Chanderpaul and Trevon Griffith trotted out to bat on home turf in their second match this season against the Windward Islands Volcanoes.
Windies Test fast bowler Shermon Lewis, who played one Test against India and Bangladesh in 2018, opened the bowling for the Windward Islands Volcanoes. Guyana Jaguars opened their scoring account when the elegant Griffith stroked a boundary off the right-arm fast bowler. It was a cautious start for the Jaguars scoring 14 runs from the first six overs. The Volcanoes bowlers were disciplined, but not bowling too much waste deliveries; they were rewarded in the eighth over when a lively Josh Thomas playing in his third First-Class match removed Griffith. He was out caught by wicketkeeper Dennis Smith scoring 14 from 19 balls, inclusive of three boundaries.
With the score on 22-1, Johnson walked in at number three to bat and his stay at the crease was a short one. The Jaguars Captain continued to fail; after hitting a timely four, he was removed by Lewis out, caught in the gully for five. After facing six balls, Johnson played a false shot and threw his wicket away, at 27-2 after 8.4 overs.
