– Barnwell narrowly misses century
Today, Guyana will look to further cement themselves at the top of Zone A when they take on Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Super50 champions, Windward Islands, in a Day/Night affair which is scheduled to bowl off from 14:00 hrs in Trinidad.
After victory on Tuesday against Canada, Guyana are now second in Zone A behind Trinidad & Tobago with ten points. Trinidad are unbeaten in three matches and lead the Group with 13, while Winward Islands are third with seven.
Jamaica Scorpions command Zone B with 14 points and their closest rival is the while Leeward Islands, who have just six points.
On Tuesday, a career-best, unbeaten 99 from Christopher Barnwell and an even half-century from Raymon Reifer formalised a seven-wicket victory for Guyana Jaguars over Canada.
Barnwell led the way with a 76-ball knock that was spiced with seven fours and four sixes and Reifer completed a tidy all-round performance with 50 not out from 58 balls that included three fours and one six, as the 10-time champion secured their second bonus-point victory in the rain-marred contest to move into second-place in Group “A” on 10 points.
In the other contest, rain forced a no-result between Windies B and Windward Islands.
At the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, chasing 203 for victory, the Jaguars always looked ahead of the game, even though they lost a cluster of wickets in the space of 12 deliveries that left them woozy on 51 for three in the eighth over.
But left-hander Reifer came to the crease and settled the nerves, when he linked with Barnwell to put on a record 153 – unbroken – for the fourth wicket that got the Jags over the finish line in 29.4 overs – a healthy enough scoring rate to earn them a bonus point.
The partnership eclipsed the fourth wicket record for the Jaguars established last year by Barnwell and Windies batsman Shimron Hetmyer against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
No Canadian bowler distinguished himself, but Romesh Galkandage Don poached 2-29 from six overs.
Earlier, Navneet Dhaliwal hit the score for Canada of 88 from 110 balls that contained seven fours and three sixes and was the glue that held the innings together before his dismissal in the 38th over triggered a slump.
He dominated stands of 45 with Harsh Thaker and 43 with Nitish Kumar for the third and fourth wickets respectively, but it was his fifth wicket stand of 59 with skipper David Jacobs that gave the Canadians the basis for a total of 202 for nine in their rain-reduced allocation of 47 overs.
Jacobs made 44, but the dismissal of Dhaliwal saw Canada lose five wickets for 37 in the space of 57 delivaries.
Jamaica-born, former Windies Under-19 captain and off-spinner Ramaal Lewis, Clinton Pestano and fellow pacer Reifer claimed two wickets apiece.
Windwards vs Windies B – No Result
At Queen’s Park Oval, though opener Tyrone Theophile was forced to retire hurt after the fourth over, Volcanoes had made a strong start to reach 48 without loss in their pursuit of 221 for victory, when wet conditions, due to rain, forced the remainder of their innings to be abandoned.
Veteran left-handed opener Devon Smith was not out on 27 and former WINDIES batsman Kirk Edwards was not out nine.
Earlier, Alick Athanaze continued his good form with the ball, grabbing 3-49 from 10 overs, to be the pick of the Volcanoes bowlers, as WINDIES “B” were bowled out for 220 in 48.4 overs.
Fellow slow bowlers Larry Edward and Kavem Hodge supported with two wickets apiece.
Windies B got starts from several of their top-order batsmen with Keagan Simmons leading the way with 57 from 83 balls that included five fours.
Tevin Imlach supported with 43, Kimani Melius made 33, Kirstan Kallicharran added 29 and WINDIES “B” captain, veteran batsman Marlon Samuels got 24.
Windies B too, started strongly, reaching 142 for three in the 28th over, but they ran out of steam in the second half of the innings, as the Volcanoes bowlers worked their way through.
