By Marlon Munroe
It was an all-round display that inspired hope that the Guyana team is ready for the Airtel Champions League T20 tournament in South Africa next month.
Guyana avenged their Saturday night’s defeat to Trinidad & Tobago last evening with a clinical 49-run win in the second warm up Twenty20 match at the Guyana National Stadium. Guyana’s captain Ramnaresh Sarwan led from the front with an admirable knock of 69.
However, it was the sub-plots of the team’s solid performance that took centre stage. Christopher Barnwell (32 not out) and Jonathan Foo (24) played cameos in the dying overs of the innings to push Guyana’s total to 188-5. Travis Dowlin at the top of the order made an aggressive 38.
T&T responded with 140 all out in 17. 1 overs. Number eight batsman Kevon Cooper top scored with 42 while captain Daren Ganga chipped in with 40 and Lendl Simmons supported with 22. Royston Crandon was again among the wickets with figures of 2-38 from his four overs.
Paul Wintz, Esaun Crandon, Barnwell and Steven Jacobs each took a wicket.
In the first over after Guyana won the toss and batted Dowlin punched a delivery over the infield to third man as the Guyanese openers looked for quick runs. But the first ball of the second over Derwin Christian attempted a pull off Cooper, got a top edge, and was caught by wicketkeeper Simmons when the score was 11.
Sarwan got off the mark with a four through wide midwicket off his first delivery while Dowlin kept the scoreboard ticking with his wristy stroke play. He, (Dowlin) played a deft pull shot to the square leg boundary and followed with a cut through backward point later in the over off Copper’s third over.
Sarwan flicked spinner Sunil Narine to the midwicket boundary and followed up with a single as Guyana raced to 39 after the first six overs. Dowlin was not to be left out of the action as he rocked back and pulled a delivery from medium pacer Richard Kelly to the long leg boundary.
After the powerplay overs Sarwan and Dowlin worked the ball around for the singles. Sarwan hit the first six of the innings over wide long on off Sherwin Ganga but shortly after, leg spinner Yannic Cariah bowled Dowlin for 38, which consisted of four fours
The dismissal of Dowlin brought to the end a 78-run partnership with Sarwan from 11 overs.
The stylish right hander, Sarwan, sent a Cariah delivery sailing over the ropes at extra cover. Sarwan treated spinner Imran Khan very unkindly afterwards: he was swept for six and then was driven for four through cover, which brought up his half century in the same over.
His half century came from 42 balls which had six boundaries (3×4, 3×6). Narsingh Deonarine joined Sarwan and the two communicated well and their running was excellent. But Deonarine came up short on one occasion and was run out for eight to close a 38-run account between the two.
Sarwan exhibited his class when he guided Narine to the third man boundary with the softest of hands. At the end of the 16th over Guyana were 124-3 and a lot depended on Barnwell to join the act. Sarwan was riding his good form and a bit of luck when he was dropped on 66 by Adrian Barath on the extra cover boundary.
Barnwell announced his presence with a lofted drive back over Richard Kelly’s head for four and off the last ball of that over the bowler was dispatched over long off. The 17th over yielded 17 runs in but the next over Ganga bowled Sarwan for 69.
Guyana’s `Golden Child’ Foo joined the cast of ball beaters by lofting his first delivery from Ganga to wide long on boundary and then flicking the next ball through midwicket for four, bisecting two fielders in the process. The 150 total came on the heels of excellent running between Barnwell and Foo.
Good running and clean, powerful hitting were the hallmark of the partnership. Singles turned to doubles and the two extremely quick batsmen challenged the arms of the fieldsmen.
Foo ended the 19th over with a four through midwicket; Barnwell commenced the 20th over with a slog sweep for four. There was a repeat of the same slog sweep but this time it went into the stands; the Guyanese were thankful.
Foo increased their pleasure when he cut Ganga for six over extra cover off the penultimate ball of the innings. The last ball he top edged and was caught by Kelly at short third man for 24 from 10 balls, four of which were boundaries.
Guyana closed their innings on 188-5; Barnwell was unbeaten on 32 (2×6, 3×4) from 16 balls. Ganga was expensive for his two wickets for 46 runs while Cooper and Cariah picked up one wicket apiece.
T&T in reply started slowly and then it got worse after medium pacer Esaun Crandon took out the middle stumps of Justin Gullien (7) the ball after he was hit for four through cover. The first ball of the next over Darren Bravo was run out without facing a ball.
The Guyana team was on a high; Sarwan added two slips and the batsmen found it hard to get the fast bowlers off the square. Paul Wintz continued to trouble Barath (4) which resulted in the batsman getting a leading edge and being caught at cover by Sarwan.
Daren Ganga and Simmons slowed the frenetic pace that the Guyanese had set. They started to rotate the strike and relished the occasional boundary as T&T scored 30 runs in the first six overs.
Off spinner Royston Crandon had a horrible first over, bowling five wides and then had a six and four struck off his last two deliveries by Simmons; 17 runs came off the ninth over, which also saw T&T bringing up its 50. Simmons’ innings however, was halted when he was bowled by Barnwell for 21 (1×4, 1×6) from 22 deliveries.
Cariah’s stay at the crease was a brief one: he was caught by Foo attempting to go over the top for two. T&T had slipped 67-5 in the 11th over. Khan was dropped off Barnwell and then Ganga punished the bowler by hitting him for six over long on in the same over.
A direct hit from substitute Leon Johnson at midwicket resulted in the run out of Ganga for 40. Shortly after Khan was bowled by Royston Crandon for five as T&T struggled to 93-7 in 13 overs. There was a late fight from Cooper and, who hit Crandon for a six but the bowler got his revenge shortly after as Cooper was caught behind for 42 (3×4, 3×6).
After his dismissal, the Guyana team just waited for the inevitable.
Scoreboard
Guyana
T. Dowlin b Carriah 38
D. Christian c wkp Simmons b Cooper 2
R. Sarwan b S. Ganga 69
N. Deonarine run out 8
C. Barnwell not out 32
J. Foo c Kelly b S. Ganga 24
Extras: (lb-1, w-11, nb-4)
Total (from 20 overs for 5 wickets) 188
Bowling
K. Cooper 4-0-42-1
S. Narine 4-0-21-0
R. Kelly 3-0-38-0
S. Ganga 4-0-46-2
Y. Carriah 3-0-23-1
I. Khan 2-0-17-0
Trinidad & Tobago
A Barath c Sarwan b Wintz 4
J. Gullien b E. Crandon 7
D. Bravo run out (Wintz) 0
D. Ganga run out 40
L. Simmons b Barnwell 22
Y. Carriah c sub Fudadin b R. Crandon 2
I. Khan b R. Crandon 5
K. Cooper c wkp Christian b R. Crandon 42
R. Kelly c Deonarine b Jacobs 1
S. Narine run out 2
S. Ganga not out 0
Extras: (lb-2, w-13) 15
Total: (all out from 17.1) 140
Bowling
P. Wintz 3-0-17-1
E. Crandon 3-0-13-1
S. Jacobs 2-0-19-1
C. Barnwell 4-0-37-1
R. Crandon 4-0-38-2
N. Deonarine 1-0-14-0
