By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
St. Vincent’s batsman Courtley Peters hits 2 of his 61 runs against Guyana
As the day’s shadows fell and lights were turned on, unbeaten and defending BVI Cricket Association Thirty 30 National League champions Guyana, were trying to keep St. Vincent at bay, after putting up a formidable target on Sunday afternoon.
Umpires pulled the stumps on the Greenland Grounds at 6:30 p.m., but St. Vincent and Guyana players waited more than 20 minutes for a decision on their game. Following the wait, St. Vincent Captain Imran Smith, along with his Guyana counterpart Vaden Walker, met with umpires and BVICA officials.
After applying the Duckworth-Lewis scoring system and reduced overs, they learned that St. Vincent had pulled out a 74-run victory, handing Guyana their first loss of the league that moved from T20 to T30.
Batting first, Guyana used Keon DeJesus’ 125 from 61 balls, en route to posting 331 for 7 in their 30 overs, with St. Vincent bowler Kenron Baptiste, taking 3 for 66. DeJesus had an 80-run partnership with Jamal Mickle and one of 92 with Jieunick Mingo.
St. Vincent got off to a dismal 3 for 8 start and were 5 for 99, before Curtley Peters and Orlando “Facebook” Ollivierre engaged in a 103 partnership for the seventh wicket, with Peters getting 61 and Ollivierre, 51 not out.
By time limited lights were turned on and the stumps were pulled, St. Vincent were 257 for 8 in 22.1 overs.
“The game didn’t end like we would have expected, but because of conditions, a late start, getting dark, it was called off, and based on the Duckworth Lewis at the particular point where the overs were stopped, the target would have been 244 runs but we were actually 257 already,” St. Vincent Captain Smith, told Island Sun Sports. “Wickets and everything were factored in the calculations and it showed where we should have been and we were ahead of it.”
Walker, however, wasn’t a happy camper. “In the end result, I think Cricket lost this afternoon, but it was a keenly competitive game. Unfortunately, it had to finish in a dispute,” he noted. “Vincy was ahead on run rate but I think as the board, they have to do a little better on transparency, when it comes to calculating these things, because when we walked off the field, no one knew what the results were and that’s really disappointing.”
Smith said that Guyana hadn’t scored 180 runs in 22 overs. “We were bowling well, despite not getting wickets—we were containing, but in the last eight overs, they capitalized on some tardiness on the field as well as some loose bowling and they actually made over 100 runs in the last eight overs that caused that big total.”
Walker said that they had some bright spots and 331 was a decent batting effort. They lapsed in the bowling and fielding department, allowing St. Vincent back into the game. “I still felt that if the game went the full overs, we could have gotten them out and won the game,” he said. “As the Guyana team, we felt undone today and the end result, we did not get over the line today. With everything said, I just want to congratulate Vincy and I hope they can make it to the finals and meet us there.”
During the morning game, Jamaica stunned Grenada for a thrilling one wicket victory. Wicketkeeper and opening batsman Ragel Noel narrowly missed a half century with 49 in leading seven batsmen and double-digit scoring helping Grenada to reach 164, but only Dave Johnson had above 20 runs.
Jamaica bowler Jason Bobb-Semple bagged 4 for 18, bringing him into a three-way tie with seven wickets in four games in the league. Shelan Isidore grabbed 2 for 16. Bobb-Semple opened with 23, but the next five batsmen could only produce 26 runs as Derrol Redhead ploughed through the Jamaica order, taking 5 for 42 after scoring 14 runs to earn Man of the Match laurels. Redhead pulled into a tie with Jamaica’s Kenrick Lewis with nine wickets. Lewis did not play on Sunday.
Jamaica, at 6 for 77 and despite Redhead’s heroics, got a 31 run seventh wicket partnership from Trevis Dookaram and Richard Francis, before Dookaram was bowled for 21. Captain and Wicketkeeper Francis, then had a 30-run partnership with Isidore before he was caught by Akim Mousey Hendrickson for 35. Isidore and Fabian Bailey had a 10-run partnership that carried them to 165 for the victory.
