TITLE-holders Guyana Jaguars have taken total control at the end of day one of their final round of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional four-day first-class championship against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force when play ended yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The Jaguars were 116-1 in reply to the Red Force inadequate total of 135, trailing by 19 runs with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 34 and Test batsman Shimron Hetmyer on four. Chandrapaul Hemraj made a fabulous 72 off 111 balls.
The visitors won the toss and batted, but their decision backfired as they collapsed to a combination of good bowling and some injudicious shot-making inside 45 overs.
Skipper Denesh Ramdin top-scored with an even 50, Yannic Cariah hit 26 and Jeremy Solozano 21, but the remaining twin-island Republic batsmen never came to grips with the hosts’ bowling attack and lost wickets regularly.
They were torn apart by seamers Raymon Reifer (5-40) and Keemo Paul (3-36) while left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul finished with 1-30.
The morning session had seen a superb spell of swing bowling from Reifer, who jolted the Red Force’s top order.
Reifer, the 26-year-old was the most threatening of the Jaguars seamers from the start and fittingly set the tone by dismissing three top order batsmen in as many overs to leave the visitors reeling at 15-3.
The Barbadian-born had Amir Jangoo taken at second slip on the rebound by Chandrapaul Hemraj and splayed Tion Webster’s stumps, with successive deliveries before adding the scalps of Jason Mohammed, who was caught at short cover, four balls later.
The hosts, after omitting Vishaul Singh and Anthony Adams from the playing eleven, briefly surrendered the initiative with Solozano and Ramdin, adding 37 for the fourth wicket, but the introduction of Permaul provided the breakthrough. He had Solozano caught at forward short-leg.
However, Ramdin who survived a lucky break when he was caught at mid-off, off a no-ball from Sherfane Rutherford went to lunch on 38 in company with Cariah on five, with the visitors 82-4.
The pair continued to frustrate the hosts on either side of the lunch break, and took their partnership to 57 before a mix-up between the two batsmen resulted in the Cariah’s dismissal.
Soon after Ramdin brought up his fifty. The tourists then lost their last five wickets for just 30 runs as Reifer and Paul combined for the demolition. It was Reifer’s fourth five-wicket haul, in his 55th first-class game.
The Jaguars were then off to a solid start to their innings, reaching 29 without loss at the tea interval with Hemraj hitting three fours in his 18 while Chanderpaul was on 11.
Taking advantage of the improved conditions, the left-handed pair continued the hosts’ dominance and were largely untroubled by the visitors’ attack.
The duo cashed in on some ordinary Red Force bowling, getting boundaries regularly; but it was Hemraj who cut, drove and pulled with power and was particularly harsh on leg-spinner Imran Khan, ensuring he never found his groove. Hemraj hit a series of boundaries, including a six which took him past his half-century – his fifth for the season.
However, after hitting Bryan Charles for his second maximum, Hemraj lost concentration and was caught at mid-off the next delivery, to end the 109-run opening stand.
Hetmyer and Chanderpaul then batted safely to the close