SHERFANE Rutherford narrowly missed out on a maiden century while Raymond Reifer is 15 runs short of his, as title-holders, the Guyana Jaguars completed another dominant day of Cricket West Indies Regional four-day first-class championships.
The Jaguars, playing at home took the stranglehold against a hapless Trinidad and Tobago Red Force line-up in the final round of the tournament.
Both Rutherford and Reifer grabbed the spotlight with innings of rare presence and sublime skill, as the Jaguars’ batting performance extended throughout the second day which swung the game firmly in the hosts’ favor.
Rutherford fell for a splendid 92 while the Barbadian-born Reifer is unbeaten on 85, when bails were lifted yesterday at the National Stadium, Providence. Reifer, the West Indies all-rounder, has so far faced 164 balls, smashing nine fours.
The pair combined in a seventh-wicket stand of 161 runs, as the hosts reached 466-7, a huge first innings lead of 331.
Keemo Paul is the other not out batsman on 35. Resuming at 116-1, the Jaguars worked themselves into a lead of 63 by lunch, but lost three wickets in the process.
Overnight batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul added another two runs before he chased Daniel St. Clair short and wide delivery and was caught in the slips for 36.
However, Shimron Hetmyer continued to bat resolutely in partnership with new batsman Leon Johnson; the pair putting on 30 for the third wicket with the left-hander, Hetmyer smashing seven fours and a six before he was caught on the long-off boundary off Bryan Charles for 46.
Akshaya Persaud joined Johnson, but the hosts were further setback on the stroke of lunch when the Guyanese Captain was caught at forward short-leg from an inside edge off the bowling of Yannic Cariah.
After the interval, Persaud in just his second game at this level, was dismissed to a poor shot, bowled by Imran Khan, but Anthony Bramble who was joined by Reifer, never took his foot off the pedal and was in an attacking mood from the word go.
The right-hander played some attacking shots against Cariah, hitting the leg-spinner for a series of boundaries, included four sixes and two fours before he was finally dismissed, caught on the mid-wicket boundary off Cariah for 42.
The situation at that point gave Rutherford full licence to attack, and he responded to perfection, hitting eight fours and a six to reach his second fifth of the season.
The pair provided it to put the hosts in complete command by the tea interval with an overall lead of 206 runs.
Soon after Reifer registered his fifty, but Rutherford was however unflustered. He moved into the 80s with consecutive sixes off Khan, as the game went flat for the bowling side.
However, after collecting his 11th boundary, Rutherford was bowled off an inside edge the next delivery to medium pacer Tion Webster. His innings lasted for 133 balls, and apart for his eleven boundaries, the left-hander smashed four huge sixes.
