Chanderpaul XI take first practice game

… Barnwell and Johnson hit 50s

DISCIPLINED bowling from Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s XI enabled that team to defeat a Christopher Barnwell XI by six wickets in their first practice game, organised by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.

Asked to bat first in the rain-truncated encounter that was a 45-overs affair, Barnwell’s XI scored 149 for 8 from their allotted overs, with the skipper leading the way with a robust 59 which helped rescue his side from 38 for 4 in the 24th over.
Royston Crandon took 3 for 28 while there was a wicket each for Rajiv Ivan, Andre Stoll and Shaquille Williams, before Leon Johnson stroke an unbeaten 51 and Ivan 14 not out to lead Chanderpaul’s XI to 150 for 4 off 41.3 overs, amid Chandrapaul Hemraj’s 2 for 35.
When Barnwell’s XI batted, they lost Trevon Griffith (1), Robin Bacchus (16, 1×4), former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan ( and West Indies Under-19 opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul (5), as Crandon and Ivan, who bowled five tidy overs for Bacchus’ wicket, kept them in check.
Barnwell and Hemraj (12) added 42 for the fifth wicket, with Hemraj being contented to work the ball for singles and give Barnwell the strike, enabling the West Indies T20 all-rounder to open his shoulders and hit Crandon for six.
Following the demise of Hemraj, who offered a return catch to Crandon, Vishal Singh (13) joined forces with Barnwell to post an additional 43 for the seventh wicket, during which Stoll and Williams were both struck for maximums by Barnwell, before disaster struck in the penultimate over.
Singh was brilliantly taken by a diving Veerasammy Permaul at backward squareleg off Stoll (1 for 27), after seeing Barnwell dispatch the left-handed fast bowler for six, before Barnwell was unfortunate to be given out via run-out, following a mix-up with Zaheer Mohammed-Shadir two balls later.
In Chanderpaul’s XI reply, Assad Fudadin and Rajendra Chandrika (16) posted 38 for the first wicket from 9.5 overs, before Fudadin 24 (2×4; 38 balls) was caught by Raun Johnson at midwicket off Keon Joseph (1 for 30), followed by Chandrika who picked out Barnwell off Mohammed eight runs later.
A composed Johnson, who replaced Fudadin, was joined by Crandon and they pushed the score to 106, with their 60-run third-wicket partnership, before Crandon found Sarwan at short mid-on when he looked to hit Hemraj over the top in the 29th over.
Fourteen runs later, Barnwell’s XI were celebrating the big scalp, when Hemraj held onto a stunner from Shivnarine Chanderpaul (6) in the 33rd over, but the target they were defending was a meagre one, hence it was not a difficult task for Johnson and Ivan to achieve.
Not even a five-minute rain break, which came at 132 for 4 after Johnson had posted his half-century from 85 balls with three fours and six over long on from an Amir Khan free hit, helped their cause.
Ivan also looked positive in his unbeaten innings, which started with a deft flick to third man off Joseph, as he held his nerves to steer Chanderpaul’s XI to victory in partnership with Johnson.
Meanwhile, coach Esaun Crandon in an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, said he was disappointed at the way Barnwell’s XI went about setting a target, while he showered praise on Chanderpaul’s XI bowling attack.
“Obviously it was a low-scoring game, but I was expecting a lot from the guys who batted first. I thought they should have rotated the strike a bit more instead of keeping the ball down, even though we did see that when Barnwell and Hemraj were at the wicket.
At the same time, I know this is their first practice game, but we still need to be a bit more proactive, doing the basics more often, as it never changes, and I would like to see them working the ball more and rotating the strike.”
The squad, from which the final 14 will be selected for the West Indies Cricket Board NAGICO Super50 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago will be named, will have a net session at the same venue this afternoon, while another practice fixture is for Friday at the same venue.
guyanachronicle.com