KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Captain Anthony Bramble and Seon Hetmyer stroked valiant unbeaten half-centuries and guided struggling Guyana to a tense two-wicket victory over the Windward Islands yesterday to end their winless run in the 2009 TCL Group West Indies Under-19 three-day Cup tournament.
Set 263 to win the Sabina Park fixture, the Guyanese battled courageously after trailing on first innings to secure a victory near the scheduled close with Hetmyer undefeated on 52.
Beaten in their first two matches, the Guyanese grabbed maximum 12 points to mildly revive their title hopes as they jumped to 16 points to trail leaders Trinidad and Tobago (30), Jamaica (24), the Leeward Islands (24) and Barbados (19) in the standings.
Ahead by 73 runs on first innings, the Windwards barely protracted their second innings to 189 all out in the morning as the Guyanese leg-spinner Jonathan Foo snared two quick wickets and helped engineer a fairly rapid end to the innings.
From their overnight score of 163 for seven, the Windwards quickly lost Audy Alexander (8) before Foo sent back John Fabien (1) and Oscar George (12) to wrap the innings.
Foo, with three for 35 off 13.5 overs and his spin partner Alex Amsterdam (3-29) were the chief wicket-takers for the Guyanese, who had a stuttering start to their 263-run target.
Pacers Fabien and Josh Thomas did the early damage to leave the Guyanese at 26 for three.
Fabien triggered the slide, removing Trevon Griffith for one with just five runs on the board, caught at square leg for one when the opener miscued a pull shot.
It became 17 for two when Fabien bowled Jeetendra Sookdeo (1) with a yorker and nine runs later Thomas trapped Foo leg before wicket for five.
From a lunch-time position of 44 for three, the Bramble engineered a sturdy fightback and stroked a fine half-century that lifted his side’s hopes in the bottom-of-the-table fixture.
He added a vital 73 for the fourth wicket with Royston Alkins that ended when the No.5 batsman was caught behind off Fabien for 24 at 99 for four.
Fabien struck again and bowled Bramble with a yorker as the score dipped to 122 for five.
Bramble struck seven boundaries and faced 124 balls in his innings that lasted 191 minutes.
Hetmyer and Amsterdam kept up Guyana’s fight but when they went to tea they were still 109 runs adrift of victory with only four wickets standing.
The pair kept up the victory bid with a 77-run seventh-wicket stand.
Amsterdam scored 48 off 91 balls with three boundaries and the watchful Hetmyer carved out a match-winning half century that contained only one boundary.
Hetmyer batted 182 minutes and faced 154 balls for his 52 not out and after he lost Amsterdam at 228 for seven, he got good support from Andre Stoll (21) and Totaram Bishun, seven not out, in taking Guyana to victory, rebounding from losses to the Leeward Islands and Jamaica.
Fabien led the Windwards’ bowling with four for 43 off 15 overs.
The Guyanese will face Barbados in the fourth round starting Tuesday while the Windwards face Jamaica.