Chanderpaul and Singh hit hundreds for Guyana, Leewards closing in on victory

The runs continue to flow from the bat of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who carved out a second successive century, a majestic 184, to put Guyana Harpy Eagles in control against Jamaica Scorpions by stumps on day three of their West Indies Championship clash at Diego Martin Sporting Complex.

The Harpy Eagles secured a vital lead on a batting paradise, built on another marathon innings by Chanderpaul and then a stroke-filled unbeaten hundred from veteran Vishaul Singh.

Coming off scores of 140* and 23* against Barbados Pride in the previous match, Chanderpaul batted for over nine and a half hours, facing 425 balls, striking 25 fours in his fourth century and highest First-Class score.

Harpy Eagles closed the penultimate day on 584-7 with a healthy lead of 191 heading into the final’s day play.

Harpy Eagles started the day 213-1 from 68 overs and reached the lunch interval at 285-1 from 83 overs, which meant they added 72 runs in 25 overs.

In the first-hour post-lunch, they added only 22 runs in 15 overs and lost Tevin Imlach. With the Eagles needing a win to stay alive in the title race, skipper Leon Johnson came at four and got the Eagles’ run rate up.

The 34-year-old raced to his 40th First-Class fifty from 68 balls and struck eight fours as he and Chanderpaul added 94 in 23.2 overs.

Singh also threw caution to the wind with some expansive flicks and dives on his way to a rapid 100* off just 85 balls (15x4s) and shared another swift stand of 61 with Chanderpaul.

Singh, who scored his eighth century, also added 75 for the seventh wicket with Kevin Sinclair, who contributed 36 (2x4s) from 41 balls.

Scorecard:

https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/211474/

At Queens Park Oval:

The Leeward Islands Hurricanes placed themselves in a strong position to force a final day victory over Windward Volcanoes.

After bowling the Windwards Volcanoes out for 173 on day two, the Hurricanes posted 252/8 in their second innings on the back of Devon Thomas' 51 (45 balls, 1x4, 3x6) scoring his fourth half century this 2022 season to give the Volcanoes a difficult total of 413 to win heading into the final day's play. 

The Volcanoes, despite getting a solid start of 45 for the first wicket, led by former West Indies under-19 captain Kimani Melius 51 (58 balls, 9x4, 2x6) and veteran opener Devon Smith (12), had slipped to 127/3 at close of play with the Leewards star off-spinner Rakheem Cornwall backing up his first innings five-wicket haul clinching two of the three wickets to fall in a very e-commerce spell so far of (17-11-20-2).

Scorecard:

https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/211473/