Guyana’s Under-19 cricket team ended its chequered campaign of the WICB limited overs tournament with a draw against the Windward Islands at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, Bourda.
Guyana squandered a comfortable position of 158-5, chasing 203 for victory, and were dismissed for 202 from 45.2 overs.
Earlier, the Windwards batting first after winning the toss were, at one point, 144-9 in the 44th over before fast bowler Shaquille Browne blasted 44. He hit five fours and a six in the final batting powerplay before his team folded at 202 all out from 49.2 overs. Guyana, on the other hand, were easily heading towards victory after a patient 53 from Ricardo Adams, who had earlier retired hurt on 46, and enterprising knocks from Kevin Boodie (40) and Chanderpaul Hemraj (44).
Larry Edward, one of the tournament’s leading wicket takers, took 4-33 from his 10 overs of left arm spin. At the end of the Windwards innings West Indies under-19 leg spinner Amir Khan was the pick of the bowlers with 4-32 while Loydel Lewis and Anthony Adams had 2-20 and 2-26 respectively.
When the home team started their reply they lost the early wickets of Joemal La Fleur (2), Kwame Crosse (2) and Dominique Rikhi (8) before Adams and Hemraj repaired the damage. However, with those dismissals, Guyana’s batsmen’s trend of throwing their wickets away quickly crept in as they stared defeat in the face.
At one point it seemed that skipper Ronsford Beaton and Khan would have taken the team over the threshold but Khan was run out attempting a run off a misfield.
Points standings at the end of the limited overs competition reads: Barbados (26.8), Trinidad & Tobago (15.9), Windward Islands (13.4), Guyana (13.2), Jamaica (11.2) and Leewards (0.4)
