Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
Guyana face defending champions Jamaica today
By Sean Devers in Barbados In association with Carib Beer,Leisure Inn & Brydens & Fernandes
After giving Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) a final day scare in their drawn opening round match on Monday in Antigua, Guyana will hope to end Jamaica’s winning streak when the two teams clash from today in the 3rd round of the West Indies 4-Day First-Class cricket match in Barbados.
Set a daunting 343 to win on the last day, Narsingh Deonarine and Skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon added 131 for the 4th wicket forcing T&T to employ negative defensive tactics as the runs flowed in the second session of the historic first ever Day/Night First Class game in the region and a lot will again depend on Deonarine in this game against the defending champions.
After drawing the first round bye, Guyana again without their two premier batsmen (Shivnarine Chanderpaul & Ramnaresh Sarwan) go into today’s game at the Foursquare Park in St Philip with 3 points after losing first innings points to T&T in Antigua and will be desperate to accumulate some points to stay in contention for their first title at this level since Carl Hooper led them to the Busta International Shield in 2001.
Jamaica, with back-to-back titles in 2008 & 2009, have already amassed the maximum 24 points from outright wins at home against the Windwards and Leewards Islands in St Kitts.
The Guyana team, like Trinidad who they played in Trinidad on Wednesday in a Charity match for the Earthquake hit Island of Haiti, arrived in Barbados yesterday and Coach Ravindra Seeram will be hoping that the young guns pull their weight here since apart from 20-year-old debutant Rajendra Chandrika who made 65 and 22, it was left to the Test pair of Deonarine, who followed up his magnificent 2009 season with a brilliant unbeaten 104 in the 2nd innings and Chattergoon who returned to some form with 74, that showed prolonged resistance to the T&T bowling attack on a placid track in Antigua.
Assad Fudadin and Vishaul Singh left Guyana as the in-form batsmen and disappointed in Antigua while Wicket Keeper Derwin Christian and fast bowling all rounder Esuan Crandon wasted good starts.
West Indies batsman Travis Dowlin was the major disappointment for Guyana with the bat in their first match and will need to work on his shot selection as he prepares to travel to Australia for the ODI and 20/20 series next month.
Both Dowlin and Deonarine will be keen to get some good scores under their belts in their final match before leaving for down under.
Guyana should be strengthened by the inclusion of West Indies ODI player Royston Crandon who missed the first match due to the ‘flu’ and he should replace Singh in the final eleven with the 3rd seamer Trevor Benn again being relegated to 12th man duties.
When the teams last met, Guyana lost by 130 runs at Sabina Park although both Deonarine and Chattergoon scored fifties in the first innings. Deonarine scored another fifty in the second innings while Chattergoon was the second highest scorer with 32.
In the absence of Chris Gayle, the Jamaicans will be depending on Skipper Tamar Lambert, Brenton Parchment, Xavier Marshall, Donovan Pagon, Wavell Hinds, Brendan Nash, Carlton Baugh, David Bernard, and Shawn Findlay to carry their batting.
Brendon Bess bowled with pace and encouragingly for Guyana, good control while Esuan Crandon was his usual hard working self with the new ball.
Deonarine showed his all-round worth with 6 wickets in the match while leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul bowled some good balls but badly lacked consistency.
In the absence of Test pacer Jerome Taylor, Jamaica’s bowling will center around leg-spinner Odean Brown, West Indies left-arm spinner Nikita Miller and pacers Andrew Richardson and Jason Dawes and if Guyana can bat well on what should be a good pitch with some early pace and bounce, Jamaica could be put under some pressure to continue their unblemished record this season.
The match starts at 10:00hrs each day and NCN Radio is expected to carry ball-by-ball commentary of the first First-Class match between the two sides at a neutral venue in close to a century.
In other round three matches in Barbados, the host nation faces Trinidad and Tobago at Kensington Oval while the Windward Islands oppose CCC at 3Ws Oval. The Leeward Islands drew the bye in this round.
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