PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Jonathan Foo played the innings of a lifetime to trump memorable bowling from Ashley Nurse, as Guyana were crowned inaugural champions of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, following a one-wicket victory over Guyana in the Grand Final on Saturday.
Foo struck four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 42 from 17 balls that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, as Guyana, in pursuit of 135 from their allocation of 20 overs, overcame Nurse’s five wickets for 35 runs in his allotted four overs to hit the jackpot with one ball remaining.
Davendra Bishoo, later adjudged the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, struck the winning runs, when he drove Javon Searles through extra cover.
The ball ricocheted from the hand of diving fielder Larry Babb, and Sulieman Benn gave chase from cover, somehow managed to misfiled, allowing Bishoo and Foo to come back for the second run to seal the victory.
The result meant that Guyana have won a regional Twenty20 championship for the second time, following their capture of the 2006 Stanford T20 Cup, and most importantly, they will represent West Indies at the Champions League T20 in September in South Africa.
When Foo came to the crease, Guyana were 72 for five with the cream of their batting – all of their line-up of West Indies batsmen – dismissed.
But the 19-year-old Foo has shown a maturity beyond his years throughout the competition, and while the rest of the Guyana batting threw their wickets away, he remained calm.
He too, however, almost got caught up in the drama. With 18 needed from the last nine balls, he skied Nurse to wide long-on, where Babb ran more than 15 yards, muffed the chance, and to add insult to injury, parried the ball over the rope for a six.
Jonathan Carter’s second straight half-century limped Barbados to 134 for five from their 20 overs, after they chose to bat on another hard, true Queen’s Park Oval pitch.
The left-hander struck four boundaries in 57 from 61 balls, but he was never fluent throughout his innings.
No other Barbados batsman passed 20, as they typically got bogged down by Guyana’s battery of spin bowlers.
Bishoo was the most successful Guyanese bowler, and finished with two for 14 from four overs. He ended the tournament with 10 wickets – the second highest aggregate, and one less than teammate Lennox Cush – and finished with an average of 8.20.
Guyana too, found it difficult to score against Barbados’ spinners, who share all nine scalps that fell.
Sulieman Benn captured two for 22 from four overs, and fellow left-arm spinner and Barbados captain Ryan Hinds took two for 30 from his four overs.
Benn made the breakthrough, when he trapped Travis Dowlin lbw for eight in the fourth over, Hinds had Sewnarine Chattergoon caught at deep mid-wicket for nine in the eighth over, before Nurse got into the action.
Sarwan was also caught at deep mid-wicket for 26 off the off-spinner, who also had Christopher Barnwell caught at long-on for a duck before Narsingh Deonarine was caught at short third man for 21 off Hinds.
Foo continued to hold things together, but Royston Crandon, Cush, and Esuan Crandon fell for nine runs in the space of the same number of deliveries to leave Guyana wobbling on 85 for eight.
Foo struck Nurse for a six off the last ball of the 17th over, and two fours from Dwayne Smith’s final over – the 18th of the innings – to ease the pressure, but Guyana appeared hopeless, when Nurse had Derwin Christian caught at long-off for seven.
But the Barbadians were clearly fooled into thinking that they had the match won.
SCOREBOARD
BARBADOS (20 overs maximum)
D. Richards c R. Crandon b Cush 16
K. Edwards b Barnwell 16
J. Carter not out 57
A. Holder c Barnwell b Bishoo 14
D.R. Smith c Foo b Bishoo 2
+C. Morris b R. Crandon 7
L. Babb not out 12
Extras (lb3, w7) 10
TOTAL (5 wkts, 20 overs) 134
*R. Hinds, A. Nurse, J. Searles, S. Benn did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Richards, 12.5 overs); 2-63 (Edwards, 8.3); 3-92 (Holder, 14.6); 4-98 (Smith, 16.3); 5-107 (+Morris, 17.2)
Bowling: Cush 4-0-47-1; E. Crandon 4-0-23-0 (w4); Barnwell 4-0-19-1; Bishoo 4-0-14-2 (w2); R. Crandon 4-0-28-1 (w1)
GUYANA (target: 135 off 20 overs)
T. Dowlin lbw b Benn 8
S. Chattergoon c Carter b *Hinds 9
*R. Sarwan c Carter b Nurse 26
N. Deonarine c Nurse b *Hinds 21
C. Barnwell c Searles b Nurse 0
R. Crandon c Smith b Nurse 3
J. Foo not out 42
L. Cush b Benn 2
E. Crandon b Nurse 6
+D. Christian c Carter b Nurse 7
D. Bishoo not out 2
Extras (b1, lb1, w6, nb1) 9
TOTAL (9 wkts, 19.5 overs) 135
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Dowlin, 3.5 overs); 2-38 (Chattergoon, 7.6); 3-62 (*Sarwan, 12.1); 4-63 (Barnwell, 12.5); 5-72 (Deonarine, 13.6); 6-76 (R. Crandon, 14.6); 7-78 (Cush, 15.2); 8-85 (E. Crandon, 16.3); 9-109 (+Christian, 18.1)
Bowling: Searles 3.5-0-26-0 (nb1, w4); Benn 4-0-21-2 (w1); D.R. Smith 4-0-21-0 (w1); *Hinds 4-0-30-2; Nurse 4-0-35-5
Result: Guyana won by one wicket (1 ball remaining)
Series: Guyana wins the Caribbean T20 Championship
Man-of-the-Match: Jonathan Foo (Guyana)
Most Valuable Player: Davendra Bishoo (Guyana)
Umpires: B. Doctrove, N. Malcolm
TV umpire: C. Duncan
Match referee: C. Cumberbatch
Reserve umpire: C. Mack