DISCOVERY BAY, Jamaica, (CMC)- Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul praised his team’s title-winning effort last evening after they defeated Barbados to capture the Red Stripe Bowl at the Kaiser Sports Club.
With Barbados chasing a revised target of 184 from 37 overs, Guyana restricted them to 156 all out off 36 overs to claim their third Red Stripe Bowl title in six years with a 27-run victory.
"It was a great team effort today from our guys, and (I) couldn't ask for better," Chanderpaul said.
Guyana, who were also champions in 1998 and 2001, rallied after a slow start and were pulled to 212 for nine off their 50 overs mainly through strong middle and lower order knocks from man-of-the-match Lennox Cush (41) and Neil McGarrell (25).
“We messed it up a bit and then the lower half (of the batting) came and put a decent score on the board,” Chanderpaul said.
“Once we had over 200 runs on the board we knew it was going to be a little hard (for Barbados) to get, with our bowling and the wicket turning a bit,” Chanderpaul added.
The experienced West Indies left-hander made only 19 and his Test team-mate and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan 22, but the Guyanese, who had upset hosts Jamaica in Thursday’s semifinal, produced another big win to deny Barbados a championship repeat.
Chanderpaul suggested he always had faith in his team.
“We had a long discussion last night and we knew what we had to do out there, we just kept focused on what we had to do and we did that,” Chanderpaul said.
The result avenged Guyana’s crushing eight-wicket loss to the Barbadians in Zone B competition in Antigua 11 days earlier.
Chanderpaul said dislodging Dwayne Smith - for an 18-ball 29 - was the key moment for his team, remembering the 20-year-old’s compelling 92 not out off 70 balls when Barbados beat them at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG).
“We were happy to get Smith out because he did some damage to our bowlers in Antigua.
“It was very important to get him out and the rest of the guys that got out early, but once we got him out, we pretty much had the game in our hands,” said Chanderpaul, who collected the winning cheque of US$12 000 for his team.
Barbados, who defeated Jamaica in last year's Red Stripe Bowl final, and swept both four-day titles earlier this year in the Carib Beer series, had a tough assignment when they returned from the rain stoppage, needing 84 runs in 11 overs.
Their captain Courtney Browne believes they were on course for a win before the rain.
"I am disappointed because I had thought we had it in the bag leading up to the 25 overs before the rain intervened," he said.
"We just needed to bat another two overs before the showers came and we just gave it away there," Browne added.