Four-Day warm-up: Akshaya Persaud shines on bowlers’ day out

Guyana Harpy Eagles commenced their first Best v Best Four-Day match at the Albion Community Centre Ground on Wednesday. At the close of play on day one, Leon Johnson’s XI were 188-7 as most of the bowlers from Keemo Paul’s XI were among the wickets.

Ahead of the new season, the Chairman of Selection Panel, Ramanaresh Sarwan, said the batsmen would be under the microscope, and further attention would be placed on them due to a series of soft dismissals after a relatively long stay at the crease.

Selectors Atto Christiani and Albert Smith were present at Albion in an official capacity, along with Head Coach Esuan Crandon and Assistant Coach/Manager, Ryan Hercules.

The highlight of the day was left-hander Akshaya Persaud, who walked off with his head held high, unbeaten on 54, while Clinton Pestano was alongside him on 24.

Persaud, who has played two First-Class matches, applied himself quite intelligently throughout the day.

The 24-year-old’s landmark came off 118 balls, striking just four fours, which embodies the patience he demonstrated after entering at 75-4.

Persaud and Pestano, who struck a solitary four and six in his 71-ball stay at the crease, have so far put together an unbroken 43-run partnership.

West Indies left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul did the bulk of the bowling, sending down 30 overs for 1-43. Junior Sinclair had 17 overs for returns of 1-40.

At lunch, Johnson’s XI was 47-3 with Johnson and Vishaul Singh unbeaten on three and one respectively.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Raymond Perez had started solidly, batting out of the first hour without much trouble. Perez then had a soft dismissal, slapping Permaul straight to Mavindra Dindyal to mid-off for nine.

Kemol Savory, whose first scoring shot was a sweetly timed four, also had an identical dismissal to Perez for seven. Chanderpaul kept rock-solid in his usual gritty approach until he got an inside edge off the bowling of Paul for a compact 27 from 94 balls (1×4).

The score progressed to 107-5 at tea with Persaud progressing to 16 and Johnathan Rampersaud dropping anchor with seven from 40 balls.

Johnson became Qumar Torrington’s victim when he fell for a solid 25 (2x4s; 1×6) from 79 balls; he and Singh began the post-lunch session with a flurry of shots.

Singh pounced on a short-ball from off-spinner Junior Sinclair, while Johnson deposited him out of the ground. The duo seemed to be laying the foundation for something of significance until Sylus Tyndall trapped Singh in front for 13.

Wickets kept falling at intervals as post-tea Rampersaud failed to build on his time in the middle, while Kevin Sinclair fell for a 10-ball 16.

The action continues on Thursday from 10:00h.