Guyana's opener Sewnarine Chattergoon driving through the onside during his patient 66 at Sabina Park yesterday. Standing at first slip is Robert Samuels while the wicketkeeper is Keith Hibbert. -Junior Dowie/Staff photographerTony Becca, Senior Sport Editor
WHEN the showdown between Jamaica and Guyana for the Busta International Shield got under way on Thursday, the expectation was that it would be a tough duel and after yesterday's gripping second-day action at Sabina Park, it has not disappointed.
At stumps, the scoreboard read, Jamaica 277, Guyana 149 for four, and with two days to go, everything points to a dog fight in the battle for the title.
The difference, however, is that with both teams boasting some exciting young batsmen and a couple of experienced campaigners, it was expected that it would have been a contest dominated by batsmen and decided on first innings.
So far, however, it has been dominated by bowlers, spin bowlers at that, and although it could still end up being decided on first innings, there is now a strong possibility that it will be decided in the fourth innings or at the end of four innings - especially as the ball has started to keep low and to spin out of the rough caused by the bowlers' boot marks.
On the first day when Jamaica dropped from 102 without loss and from 205 for three to 229 for six on a good pitch, it was the spin of right-arm legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo and the offspin of captain Carl Hooper that did the damage.
Yesterday, in spite of five dropped catches and after some aggressive bowling by pacers Daren Powell and Jermaine Lawson, some good seam bowling by Laurie Williams, it was the spin of offspinner Gareth Breese and left-arm spinner Ryan Cunningham that stifled Guyana's batsmen, kept the contest tight and exciting, and left the match wide open.
When play resumed yesterday morning, Guyana, it appeared, were on top, and Jamaica were praying that through Breese, not out on eight, and Williams still to come, they would bat long enough to post a total of around 350 or so.
That, however, was not to be, and with only Cunningham, not out on one overnight and finishing with 26 not out after smashing Nagamootoo over mid-wicket for six, surviving Nagamootoo and the pace of Reon King, the innings was over in 65 minutes and 13.1 overs for the addition of 48 runs with Breese falling after one glorious square-cut to the thirdman boundary off King and Williams after one exquisite front-foot cover-drive off King.
Breese, going across his stumps and playing to leg, was bowled legstump by King at 245 for seven, and Williams, going back and driving at King, was bowled off the inside edge at 254 for eight.
At that stage, Guyana, with Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan in their line-up, were tipped to take control, and when Sewnarine Chattergoon, going back and across to Lawson, edged the ball and was dropped at one at two by wicketkeeper Keith Hibbert diving to his left, when, in the following over, the left-hander on six, going back and across to Daren Powell, edged at seven without loss and captain Robert Samuels failed to hold onto a low catch to his left at first slip, it appeared that the visitors would take control.
When, with his score on one and the total 11, Azeemul Haniff edged an attempted drive at Williams and Ricardo Powell, leaping to his left at third slip, failed to take the catch, the gods, it appeared were on Guyana's side.
Thanks to Breese and Cunningham, however, Guyana did not take control, or rather, could not take control.
Breese, bowling from the south and round the wicket to the two left-handers, pitched the ball on a good length, varied his flight and pace well, and with the odd delivery turning off the slow pitch, kept the batsmen guessing; and so too did Cunningham in his best spell for Jamaica in Jamaica.
At 66, the clever Breese handed Jamaica their first wicket when Haniff, misjudging the length of a teasing, flighted delivery and attempting a big off-drive, skied a catch to long-off where Lawson ran in and waited under the ball for what seemed an eternity as the fans wondered if Jamaica would catch something at last.
In between two more dropped catches, Jamaica picked up their second wicket at 88 when the right-handed Lennox Cush played tentatively forward to Cunningham and the ball, spinning and biting off the pitch, bounced off the middle of the bat to Leon Garrick at silly point.
The first of the two dropped catches came at 83 for one when Chattergoon, on 40, attempted to stroke Cunningham off the front-foot, edged the ball, and Hibbert dropped it.
The second was at 91 for two when Chattergoon, on 45, again attempted to stroke Cunningham off the front-foot and Samuels missed a difficult low catch at slip.
The pressure by Breese and Cunningham was such that the batsmen, particularly against Cunningham bowling over the wicket from the north and into the bowlers' rough at the southern end, were afraid to play, and left-handers Chanderpaul and Chattergoon each left alone one too many.
Chanderpaul, after going forward and blocking, went back to Breese, shouldered arms, and was leg before wicket at 103 for three with a delivery that did not spin away as anticipated; and Chattergoon, after living a charmed life, after stretching forward in fear and blocking, went back to Cunningham, decided not to play at a delivery pitched slightly outside the offstump, and was bowled as the ball, pitching in the rough, spun back and brushed the offstump.
That was 143 for four, and with Chanderpaul already taken care of, with only Hooper of the big three to come, Jamaica nearly took control when, in the closing minutes, Sarwan played defensively forward to Cunningham and must have thanked his lucky stars when the ball, keeping low and passing the bat, missed the leg stump by an inch or two.
