Singh braves weather and Cornwall’s craftiness

March 6, 2020
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CWI/PCL Regional 4-Day Tournament…
Story and Photos by Brandon Corlette

Showing great resistance to the wiles of the Leeward Islands bowlers, Vishaul Singh registered an unbeaten 53 on a rain-hit opening day of play in Guyana’s seventh-round clash against the Leeward Islands.
This was in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League (PCL) Regional 4-Day Tournament, wherein the Guyana Jaguars ended that first day on 115-4 at the Guyana National Stadium, after only 54 overs of play were possible.

Vishaul Singh en route to a gritty half-century

West Indies off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall was responsible for the destruction with 4-41 in 21 top overs, which included five maidens. The Guyana Jaguars had won the toss and elected to bat first. They made two changes to their batting line-up, with Tevin Imlach opening the batting and Gudakesh Motie replacing Keon Joseph.

Imlach and the out-of-form Tagenarine Chanderpaul had a slow start to the innings, adding only 13 runs in nine overs. After Imlach’s defense was breached by Cornwall — the right-hander being bowled all ends up for two — Chanderpaul was trapped in front by the same bowler one run later, after scoring only nine runs. Chanderpaul’s scratchy innings came to an end after he had faced 40 balls.

The senior left-handed duo of Vishaul Singh and his skipper Leon Johnson then joined forces, but rain descended on the Providence Stadium with the score on 30-2. Rain interrupted play on four occasions during the day. The first came at 10:59h, when the score was at 64-2; then again when the score was at 68-2; and still again when the score was at 82-2, when tea was taken. A two-hour, 16-minute delay was the longest of the four delays.

Rahkeem Cornwall picked up his 300th First-class wicket

Johnson and Singh added 73 runs to the score before Cornwall bowled Johnson for 35 after he had hit five elegant fours in his 89-ball innings. Johnson departed with the score on 87-3 after 42.3 overs. Then Christopher Barnwell hit one to mid-wicket and was the fourth of Cornwall’s wickets, with the score on 99-4. Barnwell made eight from 10 balls.

Singh and Raymon Reifer then ensured there was no further hiccup as Jaguars ended on 115-4 after 54 overs. Singh battled for 131 balls and hit four boundaries in his brave innings. Jaguars will be resuming the day with the aim of posting a decent first innings total.