It was a case of David taking down the proverbial Goliath at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Saturday, as a determined bunch of cricketers from Guyana defeated a star-studded T&T Red Force team in round five of the CWI Super50 cricket tournament by 75 runs.
Guyana, under a brilliant hand of 70 from Trevon Griffith and 66 from Raymond Reifer made 291/8 off its 50 overs. Little known Clinton Pestano then grabbed a hattrick to cancel out an excellent 70 from Lendl Simmons, to cripple the home team, as it ended on 216 all out much to the disappointment of the big crowd at the southern venue.
Pestano sent back Simmons, Keiron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo in successive deliveries as Red Force’s reply was thrown into disarray moving from 133/2 to 133/5.
Simmons faced 73 balls, six fours and three sixes. Darren Bravo back in action of his injury in the final of the Caribbean Premier League scored 43 before an unfortunate decision by umpire Jonathon Blaze. The left-hander stood at the crease in disbelief, as according to him, he got an inside edge down to short fine leg and was sent leg before. His 43 came off 72 balls with four fours.
In addition to Pestano (3/47), spinner Ramaal Lewis was also good on the night and took 3/33 off his 10-over-allotment.
Earlier, Guyana won the toss and decided to take the first strike on a good batting strip. Opener Griffith took the fight to the much-touted T&T Red Force attack. The aggressive left-hander played some blinding shots that even the local supporters had to applaud.
He and Shurfane Rutherford were quick off the blocks as they posted 31 for the first wicket. Ravi Rampaul struck by sending back the dangerous Rutherford for 15 but Griffith found an able partner in skipper Leon Johnson. The two were able to add 89 runs for the second wicket at a rapid rate, to keep Red Force under pressure.
Griffith led the way with some audacious shots against the mystery man, Sunil Narine. He reverse swept him on many occasions four fours and was good enough to manoeuvre the strike easily.
Their partnership ended when Johnson fell to part-timer Jason Mohammed for 35. His association with Griffith of 89 runs came off 17 overs. He faced 53 deliveries and struck five fours and a six.
Christopher Barnwell then joined Griffith and saw the left-hander continue his good work. Griffith climbed to 70 when Dwayne Bravo flung himself to his right at backward point to pull off a brilliant catch, to send him back. He faced 83 balls and struck four fours and a six.
Barnwell and Raymond Reifer then consolidated for a while before going after the bowling again towards the back end of the innings. Barnwell scored 38 off 37 balls with three fours and two sixes and when he departed the Red Force breathed a collective sigh of relief.
However, the local team was not expecting what was to come as the Barbadian Reifer underlined his importance to this Guyanese outfit by giving them an eventual healthy score. He took Rampaul and Emrit to task and finished with 66 off 55 balls with two fours and four sixes. Rampaul, who showed real pace and aggression, ended with 3/56.
SCOREBOARD
Red Force vs Jaguars
Guyana Jaguars inns
T Griffith c DJ Bravo b Rampaul*70
S Rutherford c Pooran b Rampaul*15
L Johnson c Ramdin b Mohammed*35
C Barnwell lbw Emrit*38
R Reifer c Pierre b Bravo*66
A Bramble c Ramdin b Pierre*21
R Adams c Pooran b Rampaul*18
R Shepperd not out*6
C Pestano run out*1
R Lewis not out*1
Extras*20
Total for 8 wkts*291
Fall of wkts: 31, 120, 159, 182, 219, 276, 289, 290.
Bowling: D Bravo 9-0-52-1, Ravi Rampaul 10-1-56-3, R Emrit 9-0-51-1, S Narine 10-0-39-0, K Pierre 10-0-66-1, J Mohammed 2-0-18-1.
T&T Red Force inns
L Simmons c Johnson b Pestano*70
D Ramdin b Reifer*7
J Mohammed c & b Adams*22
DM Bravo lbw Lewis*43
K Pollard c Bramble b Pestano*0
DM Bravo c Griffith b Pestano*0
N Pooran b Lewis*18
S Narine c Johnson b Lewis*3
R Emrit b Permaul*24
K Pierre not out*12
R Rampaul c Adams b Shepherd*2
Extras*13
Total all out 216
Fall of wkts: 16, 83, 133, 133, 133, 159, 169, 180, 211, 216.
Bowling: C Pestano 9-1-47-3, R Reifer 5-0-22-1, Ramaal Lewis 10-0-33-3, R Shepperd 5.1-0-30-1, R James 5-0-22-1, V Permaul 7-0-33-1, C Barnwell 6-0-27-0.
Result: Guyana Jaguars won by 75 runs.