Led by their seamers, Guyana retained the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional 50-over title for the fifth consecutive year after defeating Windward Islands by seven wickets in the final round of the competition yesterday at Arnos Vale Playing Field.
The streak that began under Brian Sattaur, was followed by back-to-back wins by Travis Persaud and Ronaldo Ali-Mohammed last year. In yesterday’s final round encounter, Guyana’s Captain Bhaskar Yadram won the toss and decided to bowl first.
With the four seamers to the fore, Guyana dismissed the Windwards in the must-win game for 105 in 33.5 overs before racing to 106-3 in 24.3 overs.
Essequibo quick bowler Joshua Jones continued his remarkable series by removing Jaheil Walters with the second ball of the match, the batsman edging the delivery to Joshua Persaud behind the stumps.
Jones followed up by removing Teddy Bishop in the fifth over.
Windwards resisted a few overs after the early shake up but Kevlon Anderson struck twice in the 13th over to remove Jahseon Alexander for 22 and Johnel Eugene for 16. He also accounted for Micah Joseph while Qumar Torrington struck twice in the 24th over as well to see Windwards fall further to 8-85, leaving little work for Ashmead Nedd who then enticed Jeron Noel into a senseless shot and allowed Anderson to come in and wrap up the innings with the wicket of Rayan Williams.
Anderson ended with 4-36 from 7.5 overs with Torrington claiming 3-26 from nine overs and Jones collecting 2-23 from seven overs.
“Thank God for life and another championship, I’d say it was one of my best in regional cricket just sticking to what the captain asked of me, just keep it tight and things happened and it worked out for me today,” said Anderson afterwards.
In pursuit of the small total, Yadram was promoted to the top of the order but that experiment did not prove fruitful.
Yadram and Joshua Persaud were dismissed within a run of each other as Guyana went to lunch 2-28 after nine overs.
Kevin Sinclair and Sachin Singh complemented each other in their partnership of 63
before Sinclair departed for 39 from 51 balls after smashing four fours and one six.
Singh continued to coast along, with an unbeaten 27 inclusive of a pair of boundaries. He was joined by Anderson who returned with the bat to stroke 13 not out as Daneal Dupigny bowled a wide to end the match.
Meanwhile at Sion Hill, Jamaica ended any hopes Trinidad and Tobago had of winning the title with a four-run win. Trinidad and Tobago won the toss and chose to field. Jamaica, despite a 30-run opening stand were bundled out for 107 in 42 overs with Carlos Brown being the only batsman to reach double figures. He made 28 from 62 balls. Justyn Gangoo picked up 3-4 while Crystian Thurton copped 3-17 and Joshua James 2-18. In reply, Trinidad and Tobago crumbled to 103 all out in 33.3 overs with Jayden Seales, coming in at 11 top scoring with 24. Sanjay Brown picked up 4-40 and Kirk McKenzie snatched 3-21 from their 10 overs.
Meanwhile Barbados and Leeward Islands were forced to abandon their match due to rain. Continuous rainfall saw the contest being reduced to a 20 over per side contest with Barbados managing to face their quota and post 174-6 with Kilano Brathwaite smashing 45 from 37 balls, Kadeem Alleyne hammering 33 from 19 balls and Shain Brathwaite clobbering 31 from 21 balls.
Uri Smith and Kian Pemberton bagged two wickets each while Leewards in reply were 33-4 from five overs when the game was abandoned. Mathew Forde and Joshua Bishop ended with two wickets a piece.