Jamaica Scorpions all-rounder Abhijai Mansingh believes failures such as not capitalising on opportunities, missing catches, and deviating from the bowling plan contributed to Jamaica’s poor performance against Guyana’s Harpy Eagles on the first two days of action in the sixth round of the West Indies Championship, which is currently underway at Sabina Park.

The Guyana Harpy Eagles, who at one stage were struggling at 61-6 on opening day, were bowled out for 424 in 116.3 overs after resuming on 278-7 on Thurday’s second day.

Kemol Savory, who began the day unbeaten on 127, added 28 runs to his total to finish with a career-best score of 155 (309 balls), while skipper Tevin Imlach was left unbeaten on 101 off 169 balls, adding 68 runs to his overnight total of 33. Imlach smashed two sixes and 11 fours in his knock.

Ojay Shields, Peat Salmon, and Mansingh took Guyana’s remaining three wickets before lunch. Shields concluded with four wickets for 103 runs from 23 overs, Salmon three wickets from 29 overs for 117 runs, and Mansingh two wickets for 50 runs from 13.3 overs.

In reply, the Jamaica Scorpions reached153-9 from 61 overs at stumps, trailing Guyana by 271 runs. Captain Brandon King top scored with 32 runs off 51 balls,including three boundaries. Ramaal Lewis’ 24 (36 balls) and Romaine Morris’ 21 (41 balls) offered some resistance.

Guyana’s Veerasammy Permaul was the main destroyer, taking five wickets for 55 runs from 21 overs to set up an exciting third day today. Permaul recorded 630 first-class wickets in the process. Isai Thorne took two wickets for 19 runs from eight overs, with Ronaldo Alimohamed and Gudakesh Motie both taking one.

Looking forward, Mansingh viewed the situation as an uphill battle, suggesting that aiming for a draw may be the most realistic outcome. The necessity for a strong batting performance in the second innings is also stressed by Mansingh along with the importance of application and learning from the opponent’s strategy.

“I’m definitely not going to take anything away from the way Savory [Kemol] and Imlach [Tevin] batted, but at the same time, what we controlled was our lack of capitalising on those major moments in taking catches and probably bowling to our plan,” Mansingh told the
Jamaica Observer.

“We thought that things were just happening in our favour. Obviously, when you’re playing against a team that has won the last five years, if you don’t keep your foot on the pedal for the whole time, they’ll make you pay and that was what happened.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle from here. The only thing we can get out of this game is probably a draw. We’re going to have to bat as long as possible in our second innings. We have to show some application, the same sort of application that Guyana showed, in order to get something out of this game,” the 25-year-old Mansingh said.

Imlach, who was scoring his second consecutive hundred, praised his team for a remarkable comeback to score over 400 runs. He said that this performance underscored not just the fighting spirit from him as the leader but also the collective resilience and character of the Guyana team, illustrating their abilities to face challenging situations head-on and emerge successfully.

“Yeah, obviously being the captain you know it’s important that you lead from the front and you show the other players that you’re willing to put in the fight and same way you would ask them to do so,” he said.

“It was a fighting innings and one that we had to go through some adversity but you know we are happy to come out at the end. Coming from 61 for six to score 424 runs is ridiculous, you know, for a team and it shows character.

“I think it was still a very good pitch to bat for the Jamaican innings but credit to the bowlers. I think we bowled well on the wicket. They stuck to the task and it showed in the game,” Imlach further said.

Well situated at the crease, Savoy and Imlack added 64 runs to their eighth-wicket partnership tally of 154 before Savory succumbed to Salmon with the score at 342-8 in the 105th over. Nial Smith (33 from 28 balls) joined Imlach at the crease, and they added 43 runs for the ninth wicket before Smith fell prey to Shields in the 115th over, with the score at 385-9. Mansingh ended the innings by dismissing Thorne for 11 (10 balls).

The Jamaicans could not get off to a good start, losing three quick wickets for 20 runs in just 13.2 overs. Thorne removed both Scorpion openers, Carlos Brown (four) and Javaughn Buchanan (six), before Alimohamed dismissed Kirk McKenzie for five runs.

Brandon King was leg before wicket (LBW) off Gudakesh Motie’s bowling at 88-5 in the 34th overs, making it difficult for the host team to resist Guyana’s attack. This is when the seasoned Permaul took over and ripped through the rest of the Jamaica Scorpion middle order. Permaul withdrew Mansingh (18 runs), Salmon (19 runs), Derval Green (one), Ramaal Lewis, and Sheilds (five runs), leaving the Jamaicans at 147-9.