Heavy overnight and morning rain washed out the entire third day's play in the fourth round Carib Beer regional four-day first-class cricket encounter between Guyana and the Leeward Islands at the Enmore Community Centre ground on the East Coast of Demerara yesterday.
Persistent rain left huge puddles of water on the outfield causing the day's play to be abandoned before lunch and although the sun made an appearance by noon, prospects of an early start today seem remote.
Guyana, without a point so far in the competition, were 119-4 in reply to the Leewards' 350 when rain stopped play just before the scheduled 5:00pm close on Saturday, still 231 runs way from the visitor's total with only Narsingh Deonarine, unbeaten on 44, and the all-rounders to bat.
With the pitch keeping low from the second day and Guyana's patchy batting form this season, the Leewards were in a strong position to take first innings points yesterday.
Leewards' coach Hayden Walsh told Stabroek Sport yesterday that his team was very disappointed that yesterday's play was washed out since the rain has badly hurt their chances of pressing for an outright win today, the final day.
"This (rain) has set back our chances really. We came to Guyana looking for full points. We badly need some points from this game and if the match is washed out it will affect us in a big way since we came here with two draws and an outright defeat and really short on points," Walsh explained.
The Leewards, who lost outright to West Indies `B' in their last game has only managed nine points so far and were aiming for full points from this game to keep them in contention for a place in the semi-finals.
""I hope there is some play tomorrow and we hope to bowl Guyana out to claim first innings points. Even if play starts on time I don't think we will have enough time to win outright even if Guyana bats badly in their second innings," a disappointed Walsh opined.
The Antiguan said he was generally satisfied with the performance of his team in this game.
"The performance here has been better than in our last game and I am somewhat satisfied although I felt it could have been even better," said Walsh.
After losing first innings points in their drawn first round encounter against Trinidad and Tobago, the Leewards broke Guyana's regional first-class record for highest total (641-5 against Barbados in 1967) when they amassed 718-7 against Kenya in a high-scoring draw.
Controlled Guyana bowling on the second day restricted the Leewards from scoring quick runs and Walsh said that under the circumstances he could understand why his batsmen were a bit cautious as they went about setting Guyana a target.
While the Leewards were hoping for maximum points, Guyana, with an almost new-look team, were hoping to get off the points table and at the end of the second day were already in danger of losing their fourth consecutive game with four wickets already falling before they had reached a hundred runs.
Guyana Manager Carl Moore said the rain has at least ensured that Guyana cannot lose outright here.
"Even though we were still hoping to overhaul the Leewards total today (yesterday) at least having an entire day washed out will make it very difficult for us to lose from here," Moore stated.
The Berbician, in his first full season as Manager for the Guyana first-class team, has had a terrible time after winning the Red Stripe Bowl last year in his first outing as senior-team manager.
Poor attitude and inconsistent cricket resulted in Guyana suffering their worst-ever start in the 38-year history of sponsored regional first -class cricket.
Four players, including test leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, were sacked when the pointless team returned home and, with the inclusion of four new players, all of whom had never played at the regional first-class level before, the body language of the home team looked a lot better in this game although the Leewards were allowed to reach 350 from 283-7.
Guyana should come off the mark on the points table today but three or even six points will make it virtually impossible for Guyana to qualify for the semi-finals.
However, with players like 16-year-old Leon Johnson eager to make his mark at this level there is still a lot to play for as the Guyana team go through a transition period.
Deonarine is among the young batsmen in the region who seem just a few big scores away from a West Indies call-up and with the senior players in the side looking to prove that they still merit their place, the rest of the competition could be used for personal glory and to restore lost national pride with competitive cricket in the three remaining matches.
Moore said the team has lots of young talent with committed and experienced leaders in skipper Neil McGarell and his deputy Travis Dowlin.
"The aim now is to play good cricket and win a few matches and hopefully produce players who can go on to one day play at the highest level and understand their role as national players," Moore disclosed.
"Tomorrow (today) we are going to ensure we pass the follow-on target (200 runs) and if possible try to take first innings points," the Guyana manager said.
Play is scheduled to start at 9:30 AM today and with Deonarine looking set for his third first-class century and `home boy' Zaheer Mohamed still to bat, a large crowd is expected, especially since today is a national holiday.