KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Guyana made a winning start to the WICB Regional one-day championship yesterday, after they held their nerve to beat the High Performance Centre XI by three runs in a thrilling last-over finish.
Restricted to a hardly-imposing 225 all out off their 50 overs after being sent in, Guyana then used their experience to hold their young opponents to 223 for nine from their allotted overs.
Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan stroked a top score of 63 and Richard Ramdeen got 46 while leg-spinner Keron Cottoy snatched four for 47.
HPC got a great start as Kieran Powell cracked 72 and Rajendra Chandrika, 51, but they lost momentum late in the innings and failed to pull off they upset which seemed inevitable at one point.
Needing 10 from the last over sent down by off-spinner Steven Jacobs, HPC gathered just three from the first two balls through Nkrumah Boner whose 38 down the order was pivotal.
He held out to deep cover off the third ball, leaving HPC with seven runs to get and Shannon Gabriel scrambled three runs from the next two balls, leaving Brandon Bess with four to get from the last ball.
The 22-year-old, who played a single Test against South Africa back in June, then missed his swish outside the off-stump, leaving Guyana to breathe a sigh of relief.
Earlier, a 101-run second wicket stand between Sarwan and Ramdeen laid the platform for Guyana’s total in the Group B fixture at Kensington Park.
The two came together after fast bowler Gabriel bowled Barnwell with a quick delivery for four, at seven for one in the third over.
Sarwan stroked four fours and four sixes off 79 balls while Ramdeen faced 58 balls and hammered four fours and two sixes.
Ramdeen cut left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul to point to fall just short of his half-century while Sarwan, dropped on 30 by Chandrika in the 17th over, held out to long-on off Cottoy at 142 for three. Powell and Chandrika then added 101 for the first wicket to give Guyana a real scare. The left-handed Powell’s 72 came from 124 balls with two fours and a six while Chandrika faced 86 balls and hit a single four.
Bonner’s 38 required 31 balls and Devon Thomas’ 25 came from 22 balls, but the innings fell away thereafter as captain Shamarh Brooks fell for a two-ball nought.
