PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jan 8, CMC – A sloppy final over from beanpole seamer Jason Holder gifted Guyana a dramatic last-ball win over Combined Campuses and Colleges in the Caribbean Twenty20 here last night.
With 14 runs required from the last six balls of the game, CCC squandered a golden opportunity for full points as Holder sent down a wide, a no-ball and then conceded a six of the penultimate delivery, to leave the scores tied.
Veerasammy Permaul then held his nerve in tense circumstances, scrambling a leg bye off the final delivery to lift Guyana to 160 for eight, and spark celebrations in the Guyanese camp.
Earlier, Chadwick Walton blasted a superb unbeaten 99 to steer CCC to 159 for three from their 20 overs, after they were sent in at Queen’s Park Oval in the feature game of the doubleheader.
The Jamaican right-hander stood tall with three fours and six sixes off 64 balls, anchoring a brilliant effort by the students to reach a total that put Guyana under pressure.
Guyana’s innings was going nowhere at 29 for two in the fifth over until Shiv Chanderpaul arrived to hit 38 off 33 balls and West Indies teammate Narsingh Deonarine, 57 off 40 deliveries.
Left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer (4-31) accounted for Deonarine as part of a hat-trick to leave Guyana needing something special and they duly got it from Permaul in the very last over.
No such drama was anticipated when Walton and Raymon Reifer added a busy 50 off 37 balls for the first wicket, as CCC started positively. Reifer stroked three fours in a run-a-ball 21 before holing out in the deep but captain Kyle Corbin joined Walton to post another 58 for the second wicket.
Corbin hit 25 from 28 balls without a single boundary as he and Walton kept the scoreboard ticking with sensible batting. Walton’s approach was a measured one that mixed aggression with good running between the wickets.
He chanced his arm early on, smashing a four to point and six over long-off in one over from off-spinner Royston Crandon, but once he lost Reifer he put his head down.
However, when Corbin was run out in the 17th over by good work in the deep from Jonathan Foo, CCC were only 108 for two and badly in need of runs. Walton then stepped up a gear to ensure CCC plundered 48 runs from the last three overs with 28 coming from the last sent down by Permaul.
On 75 at the start of the final over, Walton clobbered the first delivery over long-off for six and then added three more leg-side sixes, to narrowly miss out on a well deserved century.
Guyana stumbled early, Trevon Griffith (9) pulling Holder to Floyd Reifer at mid-wicket at 12 for one in the third over and Ramnaresh Sarwan run out for eight in a horrific mix up with Chanderpaul in the fifth over.
Chanderpaul redeemed himself by adding 62 off 43 balls with Deonarine for the third wicket, a partnership that steadied the innings and left the game on even keel.
The veteran left-hander, who opened the innings, struck five fours including two inventive reverse sweeps, before becoming the first of two wickets to fall in the space of 12 balls.
He nibbled at a straight one from Holder (2-25) and was taken behind in the 12th over and Chris Barnwell (7) found Holder’s lap at long-off off seamer Kevin McClean at 103 for four.
The left-handed Deonarine, who struck six fours and a six, staged a 33-run stand with Royston Crandon (10) before edging Raymon Reifer behind. When Crandon and Derwin Christian were removed with the first two balls of Reifer’s next over, and Foo fell to the fifth delivery, Guyana were tottering at 144 for eight in the penultimate over and the game was CCC’s to lose.
Permaul took a single off the first ball of the final over but Devendra Bishoo missed the second before scrambling a run off the third. Holder then sensationally lost the plot, sending down a wide, followed by a dot ball before committing the cardinal sin of a front foot no-ball which Permaul swished away for a couple.
With seven needed from two balls, Permaul clattered an ordinary delivery over the ropes at mid-wicket and then scampered a precious leg bye off the last ball, as the wicket at the striker’s end was dramatically broken with a direct hit but with Bishoo safely home.
