Ireland was up against it last night in their opening match of the Nagico Regional Super50 match against Guyana at the Queen's Park Oval.Masterful batting by Ramnaresh Sarwan (89 not out), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (79) and Trevon Griffith (62) took the Guyanese to301/3 - the highest score ever made in a regional limited overs cricket at the Oval.Up until press time the Irish was struggling on 63 for four, having lost their best batsmen in Nial O'Brien (4) and William Porterfield (0) early on. Following them were Alex Cusack (12) and Gary Wilson (5). The pick of the Guyanese bowlers up until that point was Paul Wintz with 3/30.
Earlier, Ireland won the toss and decided to bowl first on a good batting track. With he sun blazing down their backs the Irish would have harboured hopes of firing out the openers. However, this did not transpire and soon they would have regretted that decision as sensible batting by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Trevon Griffith rendered their opening attack meaningless.The left handed duo gathered runs easily and brought up their century stand in 23.2 overs.Chanderpaul was first to the half century mark and was followed by Griffith however with centuries beckoning, they both fell. Griffith was caught off the bowling off Kevin O'Brien the Red Steel player for 62. He faced 96 balls striking one six and five fours.
Chanders motored on for a while and after being dropped on 79, he fell in the same over off O'Brien. His knock spanned 113 balls and included one six and seven fours.Ramnaresh Sarwan looking trim and fit then played the best he has done in quite a while. He hardly put a bat out of place, as he scored a brilliant unbeaten 89 - signalling to the West Indies selectors to organise his visa for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.The right hander from Wakenam brought back memories of great West Indian batsmanship and together with skipper Chris Barnswell (31) and Leon Johnson 31 not out - realised 73 runs from the last five overs. Sarwan faced just 62 balls, striking 10 fours and four sixes. Barnwell got his 31 from 15 balls and Johnson scored 27 not out off 14 deliveries.
SCOREBOARD
Guyana vs Ireland
Guyana
T Griffith c Sorensen b K O'Brien 62
S Chanderpaul Murtagh b K O'Brien 79
R Sarwan not out 89
C Barnwell c Niall O'Brien b K O'Brien 31
L Johnson not out 27
Extras w8, b4, lb1 13
Total for 3 wkts (50ovs) 301
Fall of wkts:129, 160,
Bowling: M Sorensen 5-0-29-0, T Murtagh 8-57-0, A Cusack 10-1-70-0, A McBrine 10-0-34-0, G Dockrell 4-0-29-0, J Mooney 3-0-21-0, K O'Brien 10-2-56-3.
Ireland
W Portfield lbw Beaton 0
N O'Brien lbw Wintz 4
A Cusack b Wintz 12
G Wilson c Barnwell b Wintz 5
A Poynter not out 11
K O'Brien not out 23
Extras 6
Total for 4 wkts (13ovs) 63
Fall of wkts: 5,5, 21, 27,
Bowling: P Wintz 6-0-30-3, R Beaton 3-1-8-1 C Barnwell 3-0-17-0, V Permaul 1-0-5-0.