Start! —Guyana Jaguars mauled by Barbados in opening match by 145 runs
Test opener Kraigg Brathwaite stroked a maiden regional one-day hundred as Barbados Pride opened their Super50 campaign with a 145run clobbering of Guyana Jaguars at Kensington Oval here yesterday.
The unflappable right-hander carved out a patient 101, an innings that was the foundation of Pride’s 302 for seven – their highest-ever 50-overs total at the venue.
In contrast, left-hander Jonathan Carter smashed a strokefilled 75 off 63 deliveries while captain Jason Holder, with 31 off 21 balls and Ashley Nurse, with 28 off 15 balls, chipped in with cameos down the order.
Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (2-56) and legspinner Devendra Bishoo (2-65) claimed two wickets apiece.
In reply, Jaguars never really recovered from a stuttering start and slumped to a miserable 157 all out off 32 overs.
Captain Leon Johnson resisted with a top score of 55 off 68 deliveries but he was the only one to pass 20 as the Jaguars batting, missing the injured pair of Shiv Chanderpaul and Chris Barnwell, collapsed badly.
They seemed to be making a fist of it at 91 for three but lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs, to plunge to a swift defeat.
Their misery was engineered by the pair of left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn (4-35) and off-spinner Ashley Nurse (4-42) who shared eight wickets between them.
Fast bowler Holder, who claimed the first two wickets, finished with two for 15.
Pride took early control of the game even though rookie opener Anthony Alleyne (20) and West Indies batsman Shai Hope (9) perished cheaply.
Brathwaite put on 48 with the left-handed Alleyne who struck three fours in 15 balls at the crease before playing across to Permaul and falling lbw in the ninth over.
Hope lasted 28 balls but perished in the 19th over after adding a slow 22 with Brathwaite, also lbw to Permaul after missing a sweep at 70 for two.
Carter joined Brathwaite to bolster the innings in an up tempo 122-run stand for the third wicket, and it proved the turning point for Pride.
While Brathwaite struck seven fours and a six in playing the sheet anchor role, Carter was more aggressive, counting five fours and four sixes – the latter coming mostly through hefty leg-side blows.
Guyana Jaguars pulls during his stroke-filled 55 against Barbados Pride on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy WICB Media)
When he was caught down the leg-side swinging at leftarm seamer Raymon Reifer, Holder arrived to sustain the tempo, lashing three fours and two sixes in a 45-run, fourth