B/dos bundle Guyana from Bowl
- Hooper breaks Lara's record
From Sean Devers in Jamaica
Stabroek News
August 31, 2002
A responsible 72 from West Indies captain Carl Hooper failed to save defending champions Guyana from a five-wicket defeat to Barbados yesterday at the Kaiser Sports club in the rain-affected second semi-final of the Red Stripe Bowl regional one-day cricket competition.
Hooper hit three fours from 105 balls in a captain's knock to help Guyana to 162 all out in 44.5 overs after the game was initially reduced to a 46 overs per side game due to rain.
Barbados were set a revised target of 143 from 36 overs due to another interruption due to rain and reached 143-5 from 34.4 overs to beat Guyana for the first time in a regional one day game since 1991.
When Barbados began their reply they reached 29 before they lost their first wicket under a dark gray sky.
Kirk Wilkinson (4) played the supporting role to skipper Phillo Wallace before he was beautifully bowled by left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell despite the slippery condition of the ball due to the wet outfield.
Wallace hit three fours and a huge six in his 54-ball 36 before being bowled by Mahendra Nagamootoo missing a pull shot to a flipper to leave the score on 64-2 in the sixteenth over.
Floyd Reifer - with three fifties from his last three innings - and fellow left-hander Ryan Hinds took the score to 110 before Hinds was run out for 29.
Hinds hit two fours from 53 balls and became the fourth batsman in the match to be run out just when he looked set to see his team to their first win against Guyana in a one-day game since 1991.
Reifer (26) was then bowled by off spinner Lennox Cush at 126-4 to make way for Antonio Mayers and the experienced Courtney Browne to join forces to see Barbados to 138-5 before Browne was run out for 15.
Mayers (9) and Vasbert Drakes (2) then saw their side to victory with 1.2 overs to spare despite a few anxious moments towards the end.
Guyana's performance was watched by Guyanese born Jamaican Reggae artist Natural Black and the entire First Born Reggae group from Guyana who are here to comple ate the making of a music video.
Earlier, Guyana, like last year when they played Barbados in the final, again opted to play one fast bowler, leaving out Gonsalves, Stuart and Griffith.
The defending champions were asked to bat on a slow outfield and a track with early help for the bowlers. Guyana started poorly losing both openers in two overs without a run on the board.
Sewnarine Chattergoon again failed, edging a ball which left him from Pedro Collins to Floyd Reifer at second slip while Lennox Cush was trapped lbw first ball in the next over from the experienced Vasbert Drakes.
Ramnaresh Sarwan, who opened the batting in the first three games, was joined by fellow test player Shivnarine Chanderpaul and carried the score to 27 before Sarwan was run out for 16.
After hitting left-arm spinner Suliman Benn for two straight boundaries in his first over, Sarwan was called and then sent back by Chanderpaul to be hopelessly runout at the non strikers end by a direct hit from Benn at short cover.
Hooper, who began the game 64 runs short of Brian Lara's record (1,760) for most runs in regional one-day cricket, joined forces with Chanderpaul and the pair took the score to 47 before Chanderpaul was run out.
The West Indies left-hander took 42 balls for his nine runs before he responded late to a call for a single and was run out despite a desperate dive.
Dropped at Gully by Benn off Drakes before he had scored, Hooper knew the responsibility of taking Guyana to a challenging total depended on him.
The West Indies captain, with the experience of 213 one-day international matches and 99 tests to his name, responded with solid, intelligent batting against on target Bajan bowling.
Narsingh Deonarine failed to reach double figures for the fifth time in the competition when he edged Ian Bradshaw to the 'keeper before he had scored as Guyana slumped 61-5.
It was soon 62-6 in the 23rd over when Travis Dowlin (1) was bowled neck and crop by the towering Benn as Hooper began to run out of partners.
McGarrell and Hooper took the score to 92-6 before rain sent the players scurrying off the field in the 31st over with the boys from the land of the flying fish in the driver's seat.
After a delay of 42 minutes, play resumed with the game being reduced to a 46 per side affair.
Hooper soon got his fifteenth regional one-day half-century before breaking Lara's record. He fell in the penultimate over trying to step up the tempo.
The elegant right-hander held the innings together and after adding 41 with McGarrell for the seventh wicket put on 47 more with Vishal Nagamootoo for the ninth to see Guyana pass the 150 mark.
Collymore got rid of McGarrell (12) and last man Reon King (0) to finish with 3-26 from 8.5 overs while Mahendra Nagamootoo (4) fell in between those wickets, run out with a direct hit from mid off, to become the third Guyanese to perish by the run- out route.
The Guyana team is expected to arrive home on Monday since no flight was available today, the scheduled departure date of the losing semi-finalist.