JAMAICA Franchise’s spinner Odean Brown, playing his first regional four-day game since May 2013, sparkled at times with 3-70 to help peg back the Guyana Jaguars.

But bold resistance from the Jaguars’ lower-order batsman Veerasammy Permaul carried the visitors to 298-8 on the opening day of the Professional Cricket League (PCL) match at Sabina Park yesterday.

Permaul, a handy batsman coming in at number eight, has top scored so far with a fluent knock of 75 not out. His partner Ronsford Beaten is yet to get off the mark. Play continues today at 10:00 am.

Score: Guyana 298-8.

Earlier, Jamaica won the toss and sent Guyana to take first strike on a pitch with a fair amount of green grass on the surface. Under sunny conditions at the venue, abysmally bereft of spectator support, fast bowler Jason Dawes struck early to boost the hosts.

Dawes, who made his first-class debut for Jamaica in 2009, but has since represented the Combined Campuses and Colleges, removed opener Vishaul Singh for six runs.

The 26-year-old Dawes tempted Singh with a series of short-pitch deliveries before the batsman pulled one to Brown at square leg. Singh’s left-handed opening partner Shimron Hetmyer (22) hit five boundaries before he edged a delivery from seamer David Bernard through to wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh at 35-2.

West Indies left-handed batsman Leon Johnson, the captain of the Jaguars, shared in a third-wicket stand of 53 runs with another left-hander Raymon Reifer before the latter was dismissed for 29. Reifer, dropped on 23 by Bernard at midon off the bowling of leg-spinner Damion Jacobs, was tricked into edging a ball from the slow bowler through to John Campbell at slip.

To pile further agony on Reifer, the umpires took lunch upon his dismissal. In the post-lunch session, Guyana crucially lost Johnson (41), champion batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (29) and Christopher Barnwell (nine) and reached the tea break at 188-6. While Johnson was sent back by Jacobs, the pair of Chanderpaul and Barnwell was undermined by Brown.

The dismissal of West Indies batting great Chanderpaul, 40, was the highlight for Brown, as the left-hander was sensationally clean bowled. Brown, 32, out-of-favour with the selectors for the past season and a half, unleashed a classic leg-spinning delivery to the left-hander, getting the ball to pitch just outside off-stump and turn in towards the batsman to sneak between the pad and the flashing bat blade.

Rain, which began during the tea interval, delayed play for 47 minutes in the final session, but Guyana’s batsmen showed renewed resolve to repel Jamaica’s surge. However, wicketkeeper/batsman Anthony Bramble (47) was bowled while playing no shot to a crafty googly from Brown at 213-7.

Permaul, 25, who played several swashbuckling shots, was joined by lefthander Devendra Bishoo and the pair added a quickfire 84 runs for the eighth wicket before the latter was dismissed for 18 when Dawes returned for a late spell. Permaul’s 75 runs have come from 99 balls and included nine fours and two sixes. Dawes has taken 2-15, while Jamaica’s other front-line leg spinner Damion Jacobs has claimed 2-64.