A keen contest is anticipated today at Kaiser ground when defending champions Barbados and 2001 winner Guyana clash in the grand finale of the 2003 Red Stripe Bowl regional one-day cricket competition from 10:35 AM (ECT).

Guyana squeezed past Jamaica by fours runs on Thursday when their spinners combined to send the home team spinning to defeat, as their last six wickets collapsed for 29 runs after they were well placed on 150-4 chasing 184 to win.

In another dramatic turnaround the next day, Barbados, led by left-arm pacer Ian Bradshaw who took 5-22, including Brian Lara for a first-ball duck, bundled out Trinidad and Tobago for 114 after Barbados had struggled to 175 all out in their innings.

Today, Barbados could start with the psychological advantage having beaten Guyana on the last two occasions they have met in this competition.

A savage undefeated 92 with nine sixes from Dwayne Smith and 62 from Sherwin Campbell spurred Barbados to a crushing eight-wicket win in the Antigua zone. It was also Barbados who spoiled Guyana’s hopes of back-to-back titles last year when they beat them by five wickets in the semi-final.

While these victories could give Barbados the confidence of knowing that they have ‘been there and done that’ it could also inspire Guyana to their best performance in the competition as they aim to avenge those defeats.

The toss could be important today since both semi finals have been low scoring games with the team batting second slipping to defeat.

Barbados skipper Courtney said he batted first on a track with early help for the bowlers in the semi final because his team felt the pitch was unpredictable in the afternoon.

Today, however, the Bajans, with arguable the strongest pace attack in the competition, might want to bowl first at Guyana and utilize the early life in the pitch against a team not too comfortable against short pitched bowling.

“Our batting is our strength and with Chanderpaul and Sarwan in the line up we are confident that if we are set a total we could get it. Batting last will give us a good idea of what run rate we need to score at to,” Guyana’s coach Albert Smith said.

When these two teams last met at Kaiser, the 2002 semi-final was affected by rain and Barbados, chasing a revised target of 143 in 36 overs won by five wickets as Phillo Wallace top scored with 36.

Guyana led by a brilliant 71 from skipper Carl Hooper was bowled out for 162 when they batted as no one else passed 16.

This time Barbados will be without Wallace who opted to play for the UWI team while Guyana is without Hooper and pacer Reon King from the 2002 team.

While Hooper’s leadership has been badly missed this year, new Guyana one-day captain Chanderpaul, like his team, has improved after a shaky start and made some thoughtful bowling changes to set up the Guyana win against Jamaica under pressure on Thursday.

In the last encounter in Antigua, Lennox Cush top scored with 46 but the talented all-rounder has had three ducks in five innings so far and a lot will depend on the reliable Chanderpaul, fellow test player Sarwan and West Indies ‘B’ left hander Narsingh Deonarine in the middle.

Sewnarine Chattergoon and Ryan Ramdass have given Guyana some useful starts in the competition but both openers have looked a little uncomfortable to the short ball and could be tested today.

The Guyana batting has depth with Mahendra Nagamootoo, his brother Vishal and Neil McGarrell all all-rounders at this level. Fast bowlers, Rayon Griffith and Eusan Crandon are also capable of useful contributions in the lower order.

Since their defeat to Barbados in Antigua the Guyana team has looked a transformed bunch in the field and their body language in their last two games suggest that they are hungry for success and are prepared to work hard for it.

Nagamootoo and McGarrell looked way below their usual standard in the early rounds but stepped up when it most mattered and could pose lots of problems today for the Bajans.

Sarwan was not used in the semi final after being over bowled in the preliminaries while Deonarine who was strangely not utilized in Antigua bowled nine impressive overs in the semi-final.

While the bowling and fielding have improved leaps and bounds and Chanderpaul seem now more at ease with his team on the field, the batting, Guyana’s strength, has depended too much on the test batsmen Chanderpaul and Sarwan.

When both failed against Barbados Guyana suffered their only defeat so far while they struggled to 183 all out in the semi final when the test pair again failed to get going.

Chanderpaul’s only regional one-day ton was made against Barbados on this ground in 1998 when Guyana won their first Red Stripe Bowl title while Sarwan scored a commanding 80 at this ground against Barbados in the 2001 final to spearhead his team to the title. One or both of these batsmen will need to get a score today if Guyana hope to build a challenging total.

Barbados has eight test players in their side but, as was seen against Trinidad, they are not as confident against quality spin bowling as they are facing pace.

The openers could look to score quickly against the Guyana pacers, who bowled too short and wide in the Antigua game, to set a good foundation if they need to be more careful when spin is introduced. If Nagamootoo and McGarrell get support from Cush, Deonarine and Sarwan if required, the Bajans could be in for a tough time.

Campbell, Dayle Richards, Smith, Floyd Reifer, Ryan Hinds, Ryan Hurley and Browne are all capable of big scores while Browne, Barbados’ leading batsmen in the competition, and Smith could be Guyana’s biggest worry with the bat on what should be another fast outfield.

In test pacers Vasbert Drakes, Cory Collymore and Pedro Collins along with Bradshaw, Friday’s hero, Barbados has a bowling attack that should test Guyana. Hurley and left arm spinner Hinds should lend spin support for Barbados who beat Jamaica in last year’s final to claim their fourth regional one-day title.

The game starts at 10:35 (ECT) and a keen contest is anticipated with Barbados holding the slight edge to win their second title at this level in two years. But Chanderpaul and Sarwan hold the key to success for Guyana today.

Teams-Barbados: Courtney Browne (Capt), Sherwin Campbell, Dale Richards, Kurt Wilkinson, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Floyd Reifer, Ian Bradshaw, Vasbert Drakes, Sulieman Benn, Fidel Edwards, Cory Collymore and Pedro Collins.

Guyana: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Ryan Ramdass, Lennox Cush, Travis Dowlin, Narsingh Deonarine, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Vishal Nagamootoo, Neil McGarrell, Eusan Crandon, Rayon Griffith, Reon Thomas and Krishna Arjune.