Derwin Christian produced a whirlwind unbeaten innings of 40 to propel defending champions Guyana to the top of Group A following their two wicket win over the Combined Campuses and Colleges team in their key clash at the Vivian Richards Ground in Antigua last night.
Christian came to the crease with Guyana in danger of suffering a second defeat on 119-7 chasing 177 and blitzed 40 of the 60 runs scored from only 13 balls with two fours and two sixes.
Like the previous match against Somerset, it seemed all over for Guyana as they slumped to 78-5 after 10 overs with the experienced duo of skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul back in the pavilion.
But Jonathan Foo and Steven Jacobs set themselves the task of repairing the early damage and they duly saw the total past the 100 mark in the 14th over before Jacobs was caught by Kavesh Kantasingh on the long on fence for 18 off Nkrumah Bonner as Guyana slipped to 119-6.
Guyana lost Foo for 23 without addition to the total when in almost identical fashion he was caught by Kantasingh off Bonner for 23 as he tried to clear the long on fence.
Christian then took over the proceedings with excellent support from Christopher Barnwell.
The two blasted 23 runs from the 18th over bowled by left-arm spinner Kantasingh.
Christian took 10 runs – a giant six over square leg and a four – off the first two deliveries from Kantasingh.
Barnwell, not to be outdone, joined the party with another six as the Guyana 150 came in a jiffy and for good measure struck Kantasingh for another boundary and even if that was not the bowler’s final over it was doubtful whether he would have been given another go with the Guyanese in that mood.
Barnwell gained a slice of luck when Kevin Mc Lean and the substitute fielder Hutchinson collided in the deep as Barnwell hooked at a rising delivery from Gilford Moore the ball falling on the turf.
Moore, thought, was to get his man as Barnwell skied another lifting delivery only for wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton to collect calmly.
After the penultimate over Guyana were 161-8 needing 15 runs from the final six deliveries of the match bowled by Mc Clean.
A single to long on by Bishoo off the first ball paved the way for Christian to continue his match- saving knock.
Christian got a couple to square leg and to Guyana’s good fortune a run out attempt on the second run resulted in four overthrows.
Guyana now needed eight runs from four balls. Christian only needed two.
He top edged the next delivery to the third man boundary and formalized the result with a towering six over square leg as jubilant Guyanese spectators ran onto the field.
Earlier, sent in to bat the CCC were indebted to innings of 43 each from Romel Currency and William Perkins, the former Trinidad and Tobago T20 star.
Though Guyana fielded an unchanged team there were a couple of innovations with Permaul opening the bowling and Chanderpaul the batting. The left arm spinner Permaul was on the money immediately to Currency as the first over only cost two runs.
The CCC team however was quickly into its stride racing to 35-0 after four overs.Esaun Crandon dismissed them both Currency caught by Chanderpaul and Perkins by Barnwell. In between Floyd Reifer was LBW to Bishoo for 16 after Royston Crandon had effected the breakthrough by dismissing Miles Bascombe through a catch by his brother Esaun.
The CCC team continued to bat solidly and were 87-1 after 10 overs before eventually settling for 176-7 off their allotted overs but in the end the total was not good enough for Christian and company. The Guyana team now leads the points standings with eight points from three matches and will play the Windward Islands in their final preliminary round game when the tournament moves to Barbados after today’s final round of matches in Antigua.
