- Junior DowieBangladesh's Tushmar Imran is clean bowled by Daren Powell for 17 during yesterday's game at Chedwin park.
GOOD bowling is usually judged by wickets taken, and based on that yardstick, Jamaica's best bowlers on the second day of the Busta Series cricket match between Jamaica and Bangladesh A at Chedwin Park yesterday were Daren Powell and Ryan Cunningham.
Powell, bowling fast and aggressive, picked up three wickets in Bangladesh first innings and Cunningham, tight and accurate, collected three on a day when Jamaica ripped through the visitors batting and sent them to bat again.
There have been many times throughout the history of the game, however, when good bowling has not been rewarded with even one wicket, and that was the case yesterday when, with Bangladesh A on 15 for one after falling for 168 in reply to Jamaica's 368, the pick of the bowlers was Jermaine Lawson who finished without a wicket after 14 lovely overs.
Powell bowled fast, really fast, but with the exception of a few deliveries, including the three that handed him his successes, he was too short, really too short, and was appropriately punished by Hannan Sarkar who cut him repeatedly to the boundary between third-man and point.
In contrast to the 23-year-old Powell, who pitched the ball up in the second innings, the 20-year-old Lawson, operating on his home ground and bowling quite fast himself, bowled a good length and a good line, bowled some good yorkers, beat the bat a number of times, and was unfortunate not to have ended a wonderful performance with something to show for his skill.
One over to Akram Khan was particularly impressive. It was an over during which he got one delivery to kick off a good length and fly past the batsman's chest as he hastily pulled away, and one to bounce and cut away off the seam with the visiting captain going back and across and failing to connect.
After adding 37 runs off 5.2 overs in the first 25 minutes on a day when rain at 1.30 p.m. interrupted play for 77 minutes, Jamaica, hunting their sixth consecutive victory, moved in on the Bangladesh batsmen, and but for the stroke-playing Sarkar, who hit eight boundaries while scoring 55 in 117 minutes, and the solid Akram Khan, who was last man out for 46 after batting for 195 minutes, the visitors may have been well into their second innings when umpires Vivian Johnson and Lawrence Thomas offered them the light at 5.56 with three overs to go to the end of the day's play.
Sarkar, an attacking batsman whose pet shot is obviously the cut, opened his account in the first over with a lovely square-cut off Daren Powell, helped himself to a few more off the pacer, and played a lovely cut to the third-man boundary off Cunningham before he swept the left-arm spinner straight to Daren Powell at backward square-leg.
In spite of the lashing from Sarkar, Daren Powell handed Jamaica their first wicket when Ehsanul Hoque, reaching for a slightly short, slightly wide delivery, edged to Ricardo Powell at second slip. That was 30 for one; it was 40 for two when Mazharus Hoque played forward to offspinner Gareth Breese in his first over and edged to Samuels at slip; and it was 78 for three when Daren Powell beat Tushmar Imran with his pace and knocked back his stumps.
After the fall of Sarkar at 88 for four, and after the rain, Bangladesh A fought doggedly for survival and were fairly solid in defence until medium-pacer David Bernard Jnr produced two lovely deliveries in his first over to knock off Mushfigur Rahman and Naimur Rahman. Mushfigur was bowled at 123 for five with a well-pitched first delivery, and Naimur was leg before wicket at 123 for six with a beautiful last-ball yorker.
The innings ended when Akram Khan, the delivery after Keith Hibbert had failed to stump, edged Cunningham and the wicketkeeper made no mistake on that occasion.
Left with eight overs to bat after Jamaica had enforced the follow-on, Bangladesh A lost Ehsanul Hoque bowled by a fast, well pitched delivery from Daren Powell.
Play resumes this morning at 9.50.
SCOREBOARD
Jamaica 1st innings (overnight 331 for 8):
L.Garrick lbw Kabir 0
W.Hinds c&b M.Hossain 78
W.Cuff lbw T.Khan 1
+K.Hibbert c wkp A.Hossain b M.Hossain 18
R.Samuels c wkp A.Hossain b T.Khan 31
R.Powell b M.Hossain 86
G.Breese c A.Khan b T.Khan 72
D.Bernard c Imran b Kabir 9
D.Powell c T.Khan b Kabir 38
J.Lawson c wkp A.Hossain b T.Khan 8
R.Cunningham not out 12
Extras (b9, lb1, w1, 4nb) 15
TOTAL (all out 94.5 overs) 368
Fall: 1-0, 2-1, 3-90, 4-131, 5-157, 6-278, 7-295, 8-331, 9-349.
Bowling: Kabir 21.5-4-76-2 (2nb); T.Khan 21-2-70-4 (2nb, 1w); Mushfiqur Rahman 10-0-39-0; M.Hossain 32-2-133-3; Naimur Rahman 10-1-40-0.
Bangladesh A 1st innings
H.Sarkar c D.Powell b Cunningham 55
E.Hoque c R.Powell b D.Powell 7
M.Hoque c Samuels b Breese 2
T.Imran b D.Powell 17
A.Khan c wkp Hibbert b Cunningham 46
Mushfiqur Rahman b Bernard 16
Naimur Raham lbw Bernard 0
+A.Hossain b D.Powell 4
M.Hossain c Garrick b Breese 9
A.Kabir c&b Cunningham 2
T.Khan not out 0
Extras (b2, lb3, w1, nb2) 8
TOTAL (all out 70 overs) 166
Fall: 1-30, 2-40, 3-78, 4-88, 5-123, 6-128, 7-144, 8-162, 9-166.
Bowling: D.Powell 11-1-39-3; Lawson 13-3-34-0 (2nb); Breese 13-5-23-2; Cunningham 15-4-39-3; R.Powell 8-1-11-0; Bernard 6-2-8-2 (1w); Hinds 4-3-7-0.
Bangladesh A 2nd innings:
H.Sarkar not out 8
E.Hoque b D.Powell 7
M.Hoque not out 0
TOTAL (for 1 wicket) 15
Fall: 1-9
Bowling: D.Powell 2-1-1-1; Lawson 1-0-8-0; Bernard 1-0-6-0; Breese 1-1-0-0.
Toss: Bangladesh A
Umpires: Vivian Johnson, Lawrence Thomas.
