LCPL Cricket…St. Lucia dent Guyana’s hopes of unbeaten run with last over win

Aug 05, 2013 Sports

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By Sean Devers
‘Cricket Fever hits Guyana’ screamed the placard of a little fan, while another said ‘Guyanese love cricket’.
If the crowd on Wednesday was big and the one on Friday bigger, last night’s crowd for the Limacol CPL T20 cricket match between host Guyana Amazon Warriors and the St Lucia Zouks far exceeded the 15,000 Stadium capacity.

Another ordinary batting display from Guyana left the massive crowd disappointed as they left the Stadium last night.
A third consecutive victory from Guyana would have ensured they joined Barbados at the top of the points table. But last night’s performance was heart breaking for the fans as St Lucia won by five wickets with three balls to spare in a low scoring encounter.
St Lucia asked the South American based unit to bat under lights on a sluggish track and an outfield slightly slippery because of dew.  Spearheaded by 42 from Lendl Simmons and an explosive unbeaten 29 from 14 balls with two fours and two sixes from Chris Barnwell, Guyana reached a disappointing 126-6 when their overs expired.
Shane Shillingford bagged 3-24 for St Lucia who responded with 129- 5 from 19.3 overs with Misbah Ul Haq leading the way with a crucial unbeaten 49 from 33 balls decorated with four sixes, two of them off the last two balls off Pakistani countryman Mohammed Hafeez.
When the game began Simmons got going with a muscled pull for four off the game’s second ball from Albie Morkel and partisan crowd roared its approval.
Simmons hammered left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin back over his head for four and smashed Skipper Daren Sammy over mid-off for a one bounce boundary in the third over.  The 28-year-old Trinidadian was already looking very ominous as he became the leading run scorer in the tournament passing Barbados’ Shoaib Malik.
Martin Guptill played the supporting role but broke free with an elegantly flicked boundary off Morkel in the fourth over as the local side raced to 32 without loss.   It was 34-1 when Guptill (12) was bowled by Mathurin in the fifth over to temporarily silence the raucous turn out.
The arrival of Hafeez coincided with a reduction in the run rate as the Pakistan T20 Captain was very watchful and struggled to rotate the strike.
Hafeez freed the shackles with a six off Mathurin in the ninth over as the 50 was posted with the six but he never suggested permanence and was soon lbw in Shillingford’s first over for 13 with the score on 53-2.  Simmons was again on fire and on-drove Tino Best sweetly for four before a valiant diving effort by Herschelle Gibbs proved futile next ball as Simmons skied to deep cover.
Sarwan and Simmons shared an unfinished 60 partnership in their last match to steer Guyana to an eight-wicket win Jamaica, tried to orchestrate another revival by putting together 20 for third wicket.
Simmons was bowled by Shillingford who two balls later trapped Narsingh Deonarine lbw for a duck as two wickets tumbled in three balls to the Dominican off-spinner as Guyana slipped to 73-4 in the 14th over.
With pulsating music blaring in between overs, Comedian Chow-Pow tried his best to revive the crowd by instructing them to perform the Mexican wave.   But when Sarwan (9) edged Best to the Keeper to leave Guyana on 82-4 in the 17th over and James Franklyn (3) was run out three runs later, the fans had gone dead.
Chris Barnwell (29*) woke up the crowd with a pair of thunderous boundaries off Sammy in the 18th over which cost 12 as he and Denish Ramdin (13*) took 33 from the last 19 balls.
Ramdin spanked Best for four and Barnwell clobbered Shillingford for consecutive sixes and the crowd, chatting ‘Warriors, Warriors’ was alive again as the last over cost 17 runs
After a colorful display from the cheerleaders, Drummers and Masqueraders during the break St Lucia began their run chase and Krishmar Santokie conceded just a single from the opening over.
However, Hafeez was hit for consecutive sixes by Fletcher in the second over to again spoil the fan’s party.
Veerasammy Permaul struck in his first over when he had Tamim Iqbal (6) at 22-1 in the fifth over while Sunil Narine trapped Gibbs (6) in-front in the next over seven runs later.  Fletcher (23) was removed by Deonarine at 42-3 in the 10th over while Misbah Ul Haq, who dumped Deonarine for consecutive sixes in the 12th over.
Devon Smith, who loves the ball coming on to the bat, hit Franklyn, Guyana most expensive bowler in the tournament for three consecutive boundaries to bring the required rate to under 10 per over.
With 38 needed from 24 balls, Smith (24) was run out while the big hitting Morkel was run without facing a ball at the same score with St Lucia 88-5.  A crucial four from Sammy off Santokie left St Lucia needing 28 from 18 balls and Narine’s final over cost just five runs leaving 23 to get from 12 balls.
Sammy, who finished on 21 not out from nine balls, picked up Santokie and sent him way back into the stands over mid-wicket and with the final over to be bowled by Hafeez, St Lucia needed 10 runs with Ul Haq and Sammy at the crease.
Ul Haq just needed three to formalize the result and give his team their first win in the competition.  Ul Haq hit Hafeez for consecutive sixes to finish the game in style as St Lucia won with three balls to spare and Coach Roger Harper must seriously consider replacing the struggling Hafeez with Steven Jacobs.
Guyana’s next match is a return fixture against T&T’s Red Steel in Port of Spain on August 9.

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