Guyana’s victorious Red Stripe Bowl team returned home yesterday after dethroning last year’s champions Barbados at the Kaiser ground in Jamaica to win the title.

However, captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul was noticeably absent as he had stayed behind in order to attend the senior West Indies camp in Antigua which starts today. Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) officials were on hand to greet the team as well as members of the media in the VIP lounge of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

West Indies and Guyana vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan who spoke with Stabroek Sport is firmly of the view that the key to Guyana winning the 2003 Red Stripe Bowl limited overs competition in Jamaica, was teamwork.

Sarwan returns to Antigua today to join the other members of the West Indies team for the `camp’. According to the VC no player really stood out in all the matches but the team stuck to their task when needed.

He also was of the opinion that in their semi-final against Jamaica that team underrated Guyana. He added that Guyana got the wicket of Chris Gayle at the right time and that was the vital wicket for Guyana. He also said that spinners Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil Mc Garrel bowled well in the tournament, especially in the semi final and final. Sarwan also disclosed that the preliminary round when Guyana were badly beaten by Barbados, shocked the team and made them wake up to the reality that they needed to do better in the subsequent games.

According to him, the Guyana team felt that a score of 200 would have been competitive on the pitch that was prepared for the final. He also said that he was happy with Guyana’s success.

Coach of the team Albert Smith echoed Sarwan’s sentiments when he said that the loss to Barbados in the preliminaries was a wake-up call. He said, "that game against Barbados was a wake-up call,” adding, “we did a lot of planing after that loss and in the end it worked for us.”

Mahendra Nagamootoo who was given the job of bowling the final over told Stabroek Sport that when he was given the ball, he felt that if he bowled straight and quick he would be able to take the final wicket. According to him, “that ball is one of my wicket-taking deliveries.”

His spin `twin’ Neil Mc Garrel also spoke with Stabroek Sport and said, “We are champs because of the contributions of everyone”, adding, “I’m happy that we have won because a lot of people counted us out but thank God it worked out in the end.”

Sean Devers, who freelances for this newspaper, told this reporter that the captaincy of Shivnarine Chanderpaul which was under intense scrutiny, improved match after match as the competition wore on. According to him, Guyana showed the desire and the `hunger’ to win the tournament especially after the wake up call in their loss to Barbados in the preliminary games.

Devers also shared the view that the team pulled together when it mattered the most and this gave Guyana a much-needed psychological edge.