– Spirited Guyanese lose by 4 wickets
After an impressive run in the 2018 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Under-15 tournament, Guyana’s dreams of becoming 5-time champs ended when they were sent packing by Barbados in Wednesday’s final.
Held in Jamaica, the U15 tourney saw top performances from a number of future Windies players who did their best to ensure their team was crowned winner. Guyana had an amazing run leading up to the finals but somehow allowed the Bajans to steal their momentum as they lost by 4 wickets in a good match.
The 5th and final round contested at the Kensington Cricket Ground in the urban community of Rollington Town, saw Guyana’s hopes of a win based on the impressive knock of 98 from Mavendra Dindyal who helped pip the team’s total to 206-9. Romel Datterdeen’s 24 were the next best score as two wickets each from; Johann Layne, Tariq O’Neale, Rashad Worrel which kept the Guyanese subdued.
Chasing 207 for victory, the Barbadians reached their target with 14 balls remaining, thanks to opener Jaden Leacock’s 47 and some resistance from skipper Nimar Bolden* who scored 42; as the pair teamed up to hand Barbados their 5th title and for the first time ever, winning back-to-back titles, following their success last year on home soil.
Again the Guyanese top performances were to be overshadowed as Jonathan Rampersaud’s sublime figures of 5-10 were unable to keep his team from going under.
O’Neale who was not out on 14 and formalised the result for Barbados, who completed the Tournament with four wins out of their five games, losing only to regional sporting arch-rivals Trinidad & Tobago in the opening round, for a total of 26.2 points – 1.7 more than the Guyanese.
Earlier, Dindyal was the rock upon which Guyana built their total 206 for nine in 50 overs, after they chose to bat in the top-of-the-table decider. After they suffered the loss of opener Mahendra Gopilall for a duck, Dindyal put the Guyanese batting on his back and anchored two half-century stands to lead the charge.
He dominated a second wicket stand of 57 with Shamar Yearwood and gave the innings backbone when he put on 89 for the fourth wicket with Jonathan Rampersaud, but Guyana kept losing wickets at critical stages to undermine their bid to set an impregnable total.
In the other matches: Windward Islands toppled hosts Jamaica by five wickets at Sabina Park and Leeward Islands edged Trinidad & Tobago by runs at Melbourne Oval.
