Having the luxury of playing without resting captain Carl Hooper and fast bowler Reon King, after topping the Zone, Guyana, captained by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, romped to their 10th consecutive regional one-day victory.

After reaching a respectable 204 for nine in 50 overs with Lennox Cush, in the role as opener, hitting the top score of 70, Guyana dismissed Antigua for 168 in 46.5 overs, despite a responsible knock of 83 from No.3 batsman Sylvester Joseph.

The 23-year-old Joseph hit four fours and two sixes in an eye-catching 126-ball innings before he was eighth out at 156 but he generally lacked support from his team-mates as Antigua crashed to their third defeat in four matches.

Only when Joseph was associated in a third-wicket partnership of 72 with all-rounder Wilden Cornwall, who made 29, did Antigua look like challenging Guyana’s total even though they scored at just three-runs-an-over.

Cush, who hit three sixes and four fours in his 109-ball career-best knock, enjoyed a useful all-round performance, taking two for 50 with his flat and nagging off-spin.

There were also two wickets each for Ramnaresh Sarwan (2-20), Mahendra Nagamootoo (2-21) and Neil McGarrell (2-26) as the Antiguan batsmen never mastered the quartet of Guyana spinners, employed by Chanderpaul.

The Guyana batsmen, too, never got into top gear in their innings as Test batsmen Sarwan and Chanderpaul spent 51 and 54 balls respectively in gathering 28 each.

The right-handed Cush, who struck medium pacer Cornwall for consecutive sixes over midwicket to post his first One-Day half-century, controlled the early stages of the innings, mixing aggression with defence.

He added 59 in 16.5 overs for the second wicket with Sarwan and a further 42 with Chanderpaul for the third wicket to see Guyana reach 100 in 28.5 overs.

However, after Cush skied a catch to short midwicket off the bowling of the steady off-spinner Anthony Lake, Guyana were setback by three consecutive run-out dismissals of Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine (7) and Travis Dowlin (0).

Dowlin, in his first match, was rather unfortunately as his firm on-drive deflected from non-striker Chanderpaul’s bat to bowler Sean Bailey, who quickly relayed the ball to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, with the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) right-hander unable to regain his ground.

It required an unbeaten 22 off 24 balls from McGarrell to see the total past the 200-mark.

Off-spinner Bailey was Antigua’s most successful bowler with three for 30.

In reply, Antigua started shakily losing openers Anthony Lake (0) and Anwaa Prince (0) with only seven runs on the board as new-ball pair Rayon Griffith and Colin Stuart both reaped success.

Joseph and Cornwall steadied the Antiguan innings, seeing the 50 come up in 16 overs but the unfancied spin pair of Cush and Sarwan sliced through the middle order with two wickets each as the sub-region side dipped to 115 for six.

Cush bowled both Cornwall and Bailey (0) while Sarwan trapped Mali Richards, the 18-year-old son of legendary former West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards, leg-before-wicket for one and had Greg Skepple stumped by Vishal Nagamootoo for seven.

Ridley Jacobs made 13 as he added 33 for the seventh-wicket with Joseph, who twice hit Cush for sixes over wide long on.

But once McGarrell and Nagamootoo returned for their second spell, Guyana quickly polished off the last four Antiguan wickets to maintain their two-year unbeaten record.

SCOREBOARD
GUYANA innings
S.Chattergoon c Prince b Jeremy 14
L.Cush c Bailey b Lake 70
R.Sarwan b Simon 28
S.Chanderpaul run-out 28
N.Deonarine run-out 7
T.Dowlin run-out 0
N.McGarrell not out 22
M.Nagamootoo b Bailey 13
V.Nagamootoo c Skepple b Bailey 3
R.Griffith b Bailey 0
C.Stuart not out 1
Extras: (lb-6, nb-4, w-8) 18
Total: (9 wickets, 50 overs) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-94, 3-136, 4-151, 5-155, 6-163, 7-193, 8-201, 9-203.

Bowling: Jeremy 10-1-48-1 (w-5, nb-1), Roberts 8-1-21-0 (w-2), Simon 8-0-33-1, Cornwall 6-0-36-0 (nb-2), Lake 10-1-30-1 (nb-1), Bailey 8-0-30-3 (w-1).

ANTIGUA innings
A.Prince c wkp. V.Nagamootoo b Griffith 2
A.Lake c M.Nagamootoo b Stuart 0
S.Joseph b Nagamootoo 83
W.Cornwall b Cush 29
M.Richards lbw b Sarwan 1
S.Bailey b Cush 0
G.Skepple stp. V.Nagamootoo b Sarwan 7
R.Jacobs lbw b McGarrell 13
C.Simon not out 13
C.Roberts b McGarrell 1
K.Jeremy b Nagamootoo 0
Extras: (b-1, lb-7, w-9, nb-2) 19
Total: (all out, 46.5 overs) 168
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-7, 3-79, 4-94, 5-95, 6-115, 7-148, 8-156, 9-165.
Bowling: Stuart 6-0-20-1 (w-1, nb-2), Griffith 5-0-23-1 (w-5), McGarrell 9-2-26-2, Nagamootoo 7.5-1-21-2 (w-1), Cush 10-0-50-2, Sarwan 9-2-20-2 (w-2).