ST JOHN’S – Barbados Pride’s batting failed to ignite before rain brought their opening cricket match in the West Indies Super50 Cup to a soggy end, handing Guyana Jaguars a 56-run victory under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method.
Chasing 236 for victory, the Pride failed to keep up with the required scoring rate on a slow Coolidge Cricket Ground pitch and ended on 91 for five in 29.3 overs, when the third and final stoppage for rain brought the day/night contest to an early conclusion.
None of the Pride top-order batsmen distinguished themselves and they became bogged down against disciplined, but hardly menacing Jaguars bowling with off-spinner Kevin Sinclair ending with the flattering figures of two for 17 from 7.3 overs.
Pride had defied a run-a-ball 80 from Shimron Hetmyer and a smiliarly enterprising, unbeaten 58 from Romario Shepherd to dismiss the Jaguars for 235 in 41.4 overs.
Off-spinner Ashley Nurse led the Pride bowling with three for 44 from 10 overs and captain Jason Holder supported with three for 53 from 9.4 overs.
Pride then endured a miserable start to their chase with opener Zachary McCaskie surviving two stumping chances and makeshift opener Justin Greaves going cheaply before the first interruption for rain.
Neither McCaskie nor Greaves could get the ball away, and they failed to rotate the strike effectively to take the pressure off themselves and put it back on the Jaguars’ bowlers.
McCaskie was on nine, when wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble mis-stumped him off Hemraj in the seventh over, and he was on 20, when the Jaguars gloveman again bungled another stumping chance off the same bowler in the 17th over. In between, Greaves was caught at deep mid-wicket off Sinclair for eight in the 10th over, looking to break free from the shackles with a slog/sweep.
West Indies batsman Shamarh Brooks too, failed to come to grips with the slow nature of the pitch before pacer Niall Smith bowled him for 21 in the 20th over, while making room and essaying a loose drive at a full-length delivery.
The Pride innings was further crippled when McCaskie was lbw for 25, playing across a well-pitched delivery from Shepherd in the next over. West Indies batsman Roston Chase was bowled for nine, playing back and across to Sinclair, and Holder made one before he gave a tame return catch to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie.
In the space of 28 balls, the Pride crashed from 60 for two to 79 for five before the weather intervened to put them out of their misery.
Earlier, Pride’s bowlers were inconsistent in the opening stages of the Jaguars’ innings and Chandrapaul Hemraj gave the Guyanese franchise a brisk start with 35, after they chose to bat.
Nurse brought back a measure of control with the scalps of Assad Fudadin, Leon Johnson and Christopher Barnwell – all for single figures – in successive overs.
In between, Jason Holder had Hemraj caught at mid-on in the 10th over and Chemar Holder had Akshaya Persaud caught at cover to have the Jaguars stumbling on 88 for five in the 16th over.
Pride were, however, put on the backfoot, when Hetmyer exploded with a volley of strokes to race to his half-century from 27 balls and shared 55 for the sixth wicket with Anthony Bramble.
Three wickets – including Hetmyer – in the space of 36 balls helped the Pride regain control and the Jaguars were wobbling again on 177 for eight in the 31st over.
Shepherd came to the crease and formed a couple of tidy partnerships with the tailenders to inch the Jaguars across the 200-run mark, reaching his 50 from 48 balls with a single through square leg off Chemar Holder.
Pride excluded Joshua Bishop, Dominic Drakes, Jonathan Drakes and Nicholas Kirton for this match from their tournament squad of 15, giving pacer Akeem Jordan his debut for the Barbadian franchise, after spending two seasons with the Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners.
Pride face Leeward Islands Hurricanes in their second match of the tournament on Wednesday at the same venue. (AR)
Summarised scores:
Guyana Jaguars 235 off 41 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 80, Romario Shepherd 58 not out, Chandrapaul Hemraj 35, Anthony Bramble 14; Ashley Nurse 3-44, Jason Holder 3-53, Chemar Holder 2-49). Barbados Pride 91 for five off 29.3 overs (Zachary McCaskie 25, Shamarh Brooks 21, Jonathan Carter 16 not out; Kevin Sinclair 2-17). Jaguars won by 56 runs under the DLS method.
