Guyana saved their best for last and in a match they had to win whipping Antigua and Barbuda by four wickets at the ARG yesterday to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2003 Red Stripe Bowl regional one-day cricket competition which starts Thursday in Jamaica.

Twenty-three year-old West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan hit seven fours in an accomplished 64 from 120 balls and shared in half-century partnerships with his captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul (39) and opener Ryan Ramdas (33).

Mahendra Nagamootoo who made 19 not out from just seven balls then ended the match with consecutive boundaries to spark an invasion of the playing area by hundreds of ecstatic, flag-waving Guyanese fans.

Sarwan registered his second half century of the series as Guyana scored 185-6 in 47.2 overs replying to the 181 all out in 49.4 overs made by the home team.

Sarwan added 52 from 68 balls with Ramdass for the third wicket after Sewnarine Chattergoon (8) and Lennox Cush (0) were removed in two balls to leave Guyana in trouble on 9-2.

Sarwan then put together another 83 runs from 127 balls for the fourth wicket with Chanderpaul to consolidate the position before Chanderpaul, who hit three fours in his 57-ball innings, fell at 144 to spark some hope for the home team.

The demise of Sarwan at 156-5 and Narsingh Deonarine (9) seven runs later added to the excitement as the close to 7,000 spectators were kept on their feet as the game headed for a memorable climax.

With seven runs needed to win Nagamootoo sealed the issue for Guyana by lofting off-spinner Horace Waldron for six and a four off the first two balls of the forty-eighth over to spark the celebrations in the Guyana camp.

“This is a good win to take us onto the semis although we did not play as well as we are capable of. The bowling was ragged in the beginning although we got some early wickets,” Chanderpaul said.

Chanderpaul, in his first series as senior one-day captain, added that in the end he though his team should have ‘knocked off’ the runs earlier.

“We have to do some work on our all-round cricket and take that into the game for the semi final,” he explained.

Guyana won the toss and with music pounding from the Chickie sound system in the background, put the home team into bat on a track with some bounce.

Despite some wides and no balls in the first two overs, fast bowlers Reon Griffith and Eusan Crandon quickly had the home team on the ropes at 17-2 in the second over.

Earl Waldron (1) was comprehensively bowled by Griffith at 8-1 before Bartnel Baltimore was caught behind by Vishal Nagamootoo for a duck off Crandon.

Left-hander Austin Richards looked aggressive and brought the crowd to life with two consecutive off-side fours off Griffith in the third over.

Skipper Sylvester Joseph, joined the 19 year-old Richards and the two took the score to 28 before Richards (19) flashed at Griffith and was caught at third man by Nagamootoo.

Left-arm spinner Neil Mc Garrell was introduced after 10 overs and in his first over, which was a maiden, he got rid of Wilden Cornwall (16) as he cut a short ball to backward point.

Cush also started with a maiden as the introduction of spin put the brakes on the scoring.

Ian Title and his captain saw the score to 114 with a fine 56-run partnership after the 100 was posted in 28.3 overs before Title was bowled by a rejuvenated looking Nagamootoo after hitting two fours from 67 balls in his 28.

Joseph batted well and hit three fours in his 84-ball innings of 34 before he lofted Nagamootoo to McGarrell at long-off to leave Antigua in trouble on 120-6.

Six runs later Anthony Lake (2) was caught and bowled by Sarwan.

Carl Simon (1) was then brilliantly caught off Sarwan by Sewnarine Chattergoon running about 20 yards from backward square-leg at 139-8.

Deonarine, used for the first time in the competition, got rid of Kerry Jeremy (0), caught on the square-leg boundary by McGarrell at 143-9 as the Guyanese looked on fire in the field.

Chanderpaul then brought back his two most economical bowlers, McGarrell and Cush, with five overs left between them, to finish off the innings.

But the last pair had other ideas as they added 38 in an entertaining last wicket stand which caught Guyana by surprise and spoilt somewhat their excellent performance in the field.

Ridley Jacobs, farming the strike to protect last man Curtis Roberts, dumped Cush high over mid-wicket for six while Roberts deposited McGarrell over the square-leg fence and then smashed him on to the top of the Andy Roberts stand in the next over to send the crowd wild.

Jacobs was dropped by Ramdass on the square-leg boundary on 29 and then celebrated his good fortune by lofting Cush out of the ARG next ball.

Roberts, who hit two massive sixes in 15 from nine balls was then run out with two balls to go as the home team scored 32 runs from the last three overs with Jacobs ending unbeaten on 39 from 50 balls with two sixes.

Griffith (5-0-25-2), Nagamootoo (10-1-27-2) and Sarwan

(10-1-29-2) all produced their best bowling performance of the series while McGarrell (9-4-29-1) and Cush (9.4-2-35-0) bowled impressively to stifle the runs scoring in the early overs after Antigua had raced to 50 inside the first 10 overs.

By lunch, Guyana were 13-2 from five overs with Chattergoon (8) and Cush (0) both back in the pavilion.

Chattergoon edged Jeremy to Joseph at slip before Cush departed next ball.

The Malteenoes right-hander fended a no-ball from Jeremy for Jacobs to take a diving catch as the ball lobbed towards him. Cush then wandered down the track leaving Jacobs enough time to get to the stumps and take the bails off.

Sarwan was greeted with a nasty bouncer that almost took his head off but then hit Jeremy to the cover boundary to finish an eventful fifth over.

After the break Ramdass and Sarwan took the score to 61 as Ramdass played some enterprising shots before he needlessly charged down at off-spinner Lake and was stumped for 33 from 38 balls with four fours just when he appeared set for his second fifty at this level.

This made way for the arrival of the captain, who, along with his deputy batted responsibly to take the game away from Antigua and Barbuda despite the late afternoon flutter as Guyana lost three quick wickets including both of their test batsmen, in the space of

19 runs.

By the time the dependable Chanderpaul departed caught at forward square leg pulling at pacer Simon, Guyana were 38 runs away from booking their trip to Jamaica and the job was all but done.

Deonarine added to the drama by edging a catch to Jacobs at 163-6 off Roberts but McGarrell (8) and Nagamootoo, both with test experience, ensured Guyana travel North today instead of South to Guyana.

The Guyana will play the winner of the Jamaica zone in the first semi final on Thursday while Barbados who topped the Antigua zone, will play in the second semi final on Friday.

Sarwan, who ended the preliminary round as Guyana’s leading run scorer with 172 runs, four more than Chanderpaul’s 168, was named Man-of-the-Match for the second time in the competition.

Guyana manager, Carl Moore, said he was pleased with the

victory.

“It is a very good feeling to know that our team could have made the semi finals. It was a very big day today (yesterday) and we are happy that we give this large crowd some good cricket,” Moore said.

Moore said that there was an improvement in the bowling today despite the last wicket flurry from Antigua and disclosed that his team is confident of doing well in Jamaica.