Heading into the final round of the Cricket West Indies Regional 50-overs tournament in St. Vincent, defending champions Guyana will need to win their match to stay in the race for the title today.
Guyana will be coming up against Windward Islands who are also in the title hunt while Trinidad and Tobago will face Jamaica for a shot at the trophy.
The final match will pit the Leeward Islands against Barbados in a virtual dead rubber match.
Guyana are currently leading the table with 22.3 points, just 0.3 points ahead of Trinidad and Tobago while Windwards and Barbados are sitting on 16.9 and 16.6 points respectively and Jamaica on 16.
Guyana will need to win their match while Trinidad will have to lose theirs or gain less bowling points for Guyana to lift the title. Should Trinidad win their contest and Guyana lose, Trinidad will be the champions. Should Windwards beat Guyana and Trinidad lose their match, Windwards can possibly come out with the title
Guyana has found themselves in a situation where a team effort was more prevalent than individual performances.
Nevertheless, Joshua Persaud, who has been promoted to the top of the order has been Guyana’s highest run getter with 148 runs in the tournament, the seventh highest. Kevlon Anderson is next on the list with 90 runs. The Guyanese duo also has the second highest stand for the second wicket.
Anderson said that the tournament has not been as expected despite having lost only one match, pointing out that the batting has not lived up to its potential but he is still backing their ability and counting on them to come through today.
Windwards will be no easy push over, scoring in excess of 300 against Canada and having the leading run-getter in the competition, Kimani Melius as their spearhead batsman with 257 runs to his name. Micah Joseph has also been consistent with 129 runs under his belt. Anderson said that while they haven’t come up against Windwards as yet, they will not be taking the match for granted, stating that the team has some good players so Guyana will “not be just going through the motion with them.” Similarly, Trinidad and Tobago have been heavily dependent on wicketkeeper/batsman Leonardo Julien with 157 runs but the Trinidadians have shared the load with Cephas Cooper and Navin Bidaisee contributing over 100 runs.
The seasoned bowlers for Guyana have done the job for them with Joshua Jones paving the way with 11 wickets as Kevin Sinclair and Bhaskar Yadram picking up 10 and seven scalps respectively.
Shermill Lewis has been the leading bowler for Windwards with 10 victims and has gained the support of Jeron Noel with eight wickets
Left arm orthodox, Justyn Gangoo has been spectacular for Trinidad and Tobago with 10 wickets and will no doubt be looking to get his team over the line with support from Avinash Mohabirsingh who has nine scalps.
The action bowls of at 09:30hrs and when the dust settles one team will be crowned champion.
