FAST AND FURIOUS: Pacer Kemar Roach produced another fiery spell of fast bowling yesterday which allowed Barbados to make an early dent into Guyana's first innings.

by LOUIS HOLDER In Guyana

RESOLUTE LOWER-ORDER BATTING and some fiery fast bowling from the impressive Kemar Roach allowed Barbados to share the honours at the close of the first day's play in their TCL Under-19 Final against Guyana yesterday at Bourda.

In a gripping day's play, Barbados, after being dismissed for 213, restricted the home team to 59 for 2 at stumps.

After being sent in to bat on a slow, docile Bourda pitch, Barbados found themselves reeling at lunch on 96-6. After the early dismissal of opener Roger Williams for two, Jed Yearwood and Carlos Brathwaite batted confidently, taking the score to 46 without further alarm.

But then Guyana introduced their spin attack, and suddenly, things started happening for the home side.

Yearwood, who had settled in well and looked in good stead, was caught at mid-off for 32, and after Brathwaite was dismissed for 24 and Kyle Hope for 20, Barbados slipped to 96 for six.

Guyana's captain Steven Jacobs and left-arm spinner Verasammy Permaul accounted for five of those Barbadian wickets.

Roach fell shortly after lunch too, but then a stubborn eighth-wicket partnership of 56 between wicketkeeper Renaldo Arthur and bowler Dawayne Sealy brought some measure of respectability to the total.

Sealy, who stroked the ball with authority, eventually top-scored with 34, and Arthur made a sensible 31. When both were out, the score slipped to 175 for nine, before a valuable last-wicket partnership of 38 was provided by tail-enders Adrian Maynard (28) and pacer Kevin McClean (14 n.o.).

It was an unlikely total after the initial disaster, when it looked like Guyana's spinners would turn the contest on its head.

Then the fightback by Barbados continued in the afternoon session, when Roach created a stir around the ground with his electrifying pace.

As in the previous round-robin match against the same team, he again rattled West Indies Under-19 opener Richard Ramdeen, who, after being struck twice painfully on the thigh, was caught in the gully area by Williams.

Roach then baited Shenroy Williams into missing a hook shot and he was caught by captain Shamarh Brooks for nine.

Yajarnard Singh and Mohindra Boodram then survived some anxious moments in the late afternoon sunshine, and there was actually a small altercation, when Roach and Singh were involved in a heated verbal exchange before the close.

The small crowd on hand loved the action, but the Guyanese were glad to call it a day having survived the Roach onslaught. At the close, Singh was 27, and Boodram, who took more than an hour to score his first run, was eight.

*****

Scoreboard yesterday on the first day of the TCL Under-19 Final between Barbados and Guyana at Bourda.

Barbados 1st Innings

R. Williams c wk Georgeson

b Hercules 2

Y. Yearwood c Hercules

b Permaul 32

C. Brathwaite c Jacobs

b Permaul 24

K. Hope c Barrington

b Jacobs 20

J. Carter c Hercules

b Permaul 12

S. Brooks c Deosaran

b Jacobs 0

R. Arthur c Ramdeen

b Permaul 31

K. Roach c Ramdeen

b Jacobs 10

D. Sealy c wk Georgeson

b Jacobs 34

K. McClean not out 14

A. Maynard st wk Georgeson

b Gonsalves 28

Extras (b4, lb1, nb1) 6

Total 213

Wkts fell at: 12, 46, 75, 79, 94, 109, 165, 175, 213.

Bowling: Hercules 8-22-22-1, Deosaran 12-3-22-0, Jacobs 17-1-60-4, Permaul 25-9-69-4, Gonsalves 5.4-0-23-1,

Singh 2-0-12-0.

Guyana Ist Innings

R. Ramdeen c Williams

b Roach 4

S. Barrington c Brooks

b Roach 9

M. Boodram not out 8

G. Singh not out 27

Extras (b1, lb3, nb6, w1) 11

Total (for 2 wkts, 25 overs) 59

Wkts fell at: 9, 19

Bowling: Roach 6-1-16-2, McClean 5-3-8-0,

Carter 2-0-12-0, Sealy 2-1-1-0, Maynard 5-2-6-0,

Brathwaite 3-0-11-0,

Brooks 2-1-1-0.