By Colin Benjamin in Barbados
An unbroken 91-run third-wicket partnership from left-handed duo Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine propelled the “Amazon Conquerors” to an eight-wicket win over tournament whipping boys Canada, in the latest Group B encounter of the 2012 Caribbean Twenty20 tournament at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados last evening.
After they had lost the toss and fielded first, the Guyanese restricted the Canadians to 143/7 in their full allotment of 20 overs and chased down the target with 18 balls to spare scoring 144/2 in 17 overs in the process.
The victory means that Guyana remains in third place in the group behind defending champions Trinidad and Tobago and the Windwards Islands, while moving their run-rate back into positive territory. However, their progress into the semi-finals may still depend on results in other matches, even if they defeat the Windward Islands in their final group game, that bowls off tomorrow evening from 20:00hrs.
The afternoon’s proceedings commenced in glorious sunshine with Canada’s skipper Jimmy Hansra winning his third consecutive toss of the tournament and electing to take first strike on a pitch many aficionados reckoned was an excellent overall cricket wicket.
After two paltry totals in their opening two games versus the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands of 111 for 7 and 108 all out, Canada produced their best batting performance of the competition to date as they totalled 143/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
They got off to an extremely brisk start of 36 inside four overs with Ruvindu Gunasekera dominating that partnership, scoring 29 of those runs at the stage. His partner Harish Patel was the first to perish when he top edged a drive down the throat of Trevon Griffith diving forward on the third-man boundary off the penultimate delivery of the fourth over.
At the end of the initial six overs fielding restriction period, the Canadians had reached 41/1 with Gunasekera looking dangerous on 31 having already struck four classy boundaries and a massive six off the off-spinner Steven Jacobs.
But Gunasekera, although he was playing some good shots was guilty of trying to be too cute with his strokeplay and this brought his downfall eventually when he was deceived by left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul for 38 (28 balls, 4×4, 1×6), leaving his side on 50/2 in the eighth over.
Raza-ur-Rehman in partnership with skipper Hansra went about steadying the ship for Canada during a third wicket partnership of 44 that involved singles, good running between the wicket and the odd boundary.
The highlight of this partnership occurred in the 14th over of the innings when 16 runs were harvested off Narsingh Deonarine’s lone over. But the good work done in that over was ruined when Rehman 29 (25 balls, 1×4, 1×6) was run out attempting a second run from a direct hit by Chanderpaul from long-on.
Canada entered the final five overs of their innings on 99/3 and after Cheema (5) was dismissed with the score on 101/4, they got some valuable late overs impetus from a quick-fire 40-run fifth wicket partnership between captain Hansra and Nitish Kumar which threatened to take the Canadians past the competitive 150-run mark.
But there was a dramatic last over from West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo in which three wickets fell. First, Kumar 19 (14 balls, 2×4, 1×6) was bowled by Bishoo, next ball Hamza Tariq was caught by Chanderpaul at long-on, then Hansra 40 (36 balls, 3×6) was run out by a powerful return by Jacobs at long-off, to leave them needing a tricky 144 to win.
Demerara Cricket Club opener Trevon Griffith got Guyana’s reply off to a pulsating start when he blasted fast bowler Jeremy Gordon to the point boundary for four.
This set the tone for the “Amazon Conquerors” as spearheaded by fellow left-hander Sewnarine Chattergoon they traded shot for shot with an array of strokes all around the wicket, rocketing the 2010 champions to their first 50-run opening partnership of the tournament in 5.2 overs, when Griffith blasted slow medium bowler Cheema to the cover boundary.
Guyana then suffered a slight hiccup losing both openers to reckless shots in the space of two overs. Firstly Griffith 22 (15 balls, 1×4, 2×6) was stumped attempting to hit Cheema down the ground, then Chattergoon slog-swept leg-spinner Junaid Siddiqui into the lap of deep mid-wicket, leaving the side at 53/2.
Chanderpaul entered to rapturous applause from a large section of Guyanese supporters in the famous Greenidge and Haynes stand and in partnership with Deonarine they settled the nerves of their team-mates with an efficient partnership, that was mixed with intelligent running between the wickets and the scoring of the required boundaries at the right time, which kept the required run-rate in check.
The duo completed their 50-run stand in the 14th over, when the impressive Deonarine launched leg-spinner Siddiqui into the Sir Garfield Sobers players pavilion, while later in the 16th over with the score on 129, Siqqidui was again the victim of Deonarine’s batting assault, when he drilled him down the ground to bring up his half-century from 31 balls (4×4, 2×6).
Chanderpaul who played second fiddle in this alliance, was the man to hit the winning stroke via a chip-drive over cover off Hansra to keep the “Amazon Conquerors” alive in the competition.
Group A Points standings at the end of the Guyana vs Canada game:
Teams Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR
Trinidad & T 3 2 1 0 0 8 +3.008
Windward Is 2 2 0 0 0 8 +0.933
Guyana 3 2 1 0 0 8 +0.152
Leeward Is 3 1 2 0 0 4 -2.371
Canada 3 0 3 0 0 0 -1.748
