NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Four wickets – two to Esuan Crandon and two run outs – in a dramatic final over handed reigning champions Guyana a miraculous, come-from-behind, one-run victory over Somerset in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship yesterday.
The Guyanese looked a beaten side, when Somerset, chasing 113 for victory from their allocation of 20 overs, entered the final over needing five runs in the rain-affected fifth match of the competition at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
But the Guyanese bowled steadily and fielded sharply in the closing over, as Somerset, runners-up in the English Twenty20 competition last year, lost their last seven wickets for six runs in the last 14 balls of the match.
Nick Compton, a grandson of the late England legend Denis Compton, hit the top score of 32, and Arul Suppiah supported with 26.
Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul and Crandon finished with two wickets apiece for 19, 20, and 22 runs respectively from their allotment of four overs.
Ramnaresh Sarwan had shown his class, when he stroked 59 to lead the Guyanese to a modest 112 for eight off 20 overs.
The Guyana captain struck three fours and three sixes from 48 balls in an innings that helped to earn him the Man-of-the-Match award, but no other batsman, including the durable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, passed 10.
Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas was his side’s most successful bowler with three for 23 from his four overs.
Guyanese hopes looked to have been sunk, when Suppiah joined Compton to add 43 for the fifth wicket, and put Somerset back on course.
But Permaul had Suppiah lbw playing across the full-length, penultimate delivery of the 18th over to trigger a chain of events that would have embarrassed even the most inept school team. Unusually sharp fielding from the Guyanese led to Craig Meschede being run out by Esuan Crandon’s throw from deep mid-wicket to the wicketkeeper for one, and two balls later, Thomas was also run out by Sarwan’s direct hit at the striker’s end from backward point for a duck to leave Somerset 108 for six in the 19th over. Crandon began the final over, with an in-swinging delivery that bowled Compton behind his legs, and Gemaal Hussain was run out for a duck off the next delivery by a direct hit at the bowler’s end from Travis Dowlin.
Things got tighter for Guyana, when the ninth wicket pair of Steve Kirby and Craig Haggett managed three runs off Crandon’s next two deliveries.But the Guyana fast bowler had Kirby brilliantly caught by Dowlin at short mid-wicket essaying a whip off the hips looking for the winning runs.
Crandon beat George Dockrell with the final delivery, and alert wicketkeeper Derwin Christian ran Craig Haggett out with a direct hit at the striker’s end to spark unrestrained celebrations by the Guyanese. Earlier, batting continued to be the bane of the Guyanese, and Sarwan bailed them out with his half-century that included a number of trademark classy drives. He reached his 50 from 42 balls with a single into the leg-side.
As the wickets tumbled around him, Sarwan continued to play his strokes, and eventually Thomas bowled him in the final over. Two wickets in the space of 20 balls brought Guyana back into the match, after the visitors started their chase circumspectly. Permaul bowled Peter Trego for 16, and Barnwell had James Hildreth caught behind for five to leave Somerset 32 for two in the eighth over. Guyana continued to bowl steadily, but the Somerset batsmen resisted, when Jos Buttler came to the crease, and restored stability with Compton in a stand of 30 before he was caught at long-off off Barnwell for 18.
The Guyanese seemed destined for their second straight loss, after Jamaica humbled them by 50 runs in their opening match, but Somerset embarrassed themselves to hand their opponents a vital four points.
Guyana face Combined Campuses & Colleges in their third match tomorrow at the same venue, where Somerset meet Windward Islands.
SCOREBOARD
GUYANA (maximum 20 overs)
C. Barnwell c Trego b *Thomas 1
T. Dowlin c Dockrell b Hussain 7
*R. Sarwan b *Thomas 59
S. Jacobs c *Thomas b Kirby 0
S. Chanderpaul c and b Dockrell 8
E. Crandon run out (*Thomas) 9
R. Crandon c Meschede b Haggett 10
J. Foo c Trego b *Thomas 3
+D. Christian not out 7
D. Bishoo not out 1
Extras (lb1, w6) 7
TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 112
V. Permaul did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-18, 3-22, 4-40, 5-51, 6-87, 7-94, 8-108
Bowling: *Thomas 4-0-23-3, Hussain 4-0-14-1, Kirby 4-0-25-1, Haggett 3-0-15-1, Dockrell 4-0-21-1, Suppiah 1-0-13-0
SOMERSET (target: 113 off 20 overs)
P. Trego b Permaul 16
N. Compton b E. Crandon 32
J. Hildreth c wkpr Christian b Barnwell 5
+J. Buttler c E. Crandon b Barnwell 18
A. Suppiah lbw b Permaul 26
C. Meschede run out (E. Crandon/Bishoo) 1
*A. Thomas run out (*Sarwan) 0
C. Haggett run out (+Christian) 1
G. Hussain run out (Dowlin) 0
S. Kirby c Dowlin b E. Crandon 2
G. Dockrell not out 0
Extras (b4, lb2, w3, nb1) 10
TOTAL (all out, 20 overs) 111
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-32, 3-62, 4-105, 5-108, 6-108, 7-108, 8-108, 9-111
Bowling: Permaul 4-0-20-2, Crandon 4-0-22-2, Bishoo 4-0-17-0, Barnwell 4-0-19-2, R. Crandon 3-0-20-0, Jacobs 1-0-7-0
Result: Guyana won by one run
Points: Guyana 2, Somerset 0
Toss: Guyana
Man-of-the-Match: R. Sarwan (Guyana)
Umpires: G. Brathwaite, J. Wilson
TV umpire: B. Doctrove
Matchreferee: A. Griffith
Reserve umpire: L. Kelly
