Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 24, 2009 Sports
By Sean Devers
Back in the familiar middle order position after opening in the last match, Royston Crandon chalked up his fourth fifty this season as Guyana held on for a second consecutive draw after four defeats on the final day of their seventh round WICB regional four-day cricket match against Trinidad and Tobago at the Guyana National Stadium.
While it was an improved performance from the Guyanese, T&T, who declared twice in the match, would be disappointed in not being able to score freely in the morning session to post a victory total with enough time to dismiss the host a second time on a flat track.
The visitors, who will return to Trinidad this morning in time to catch the last day of their Carnival season, had to settle for first innings points (6) which took them to 39 from six matches in the competition.
On a day when their countrymen were celebrating their 39th Republic Anniversary with the annual Mashramani float parade and street jump-up in the Capitol City, the Guyanese moved to 10 points from five matches after starting the round on seven points.
Scores: T&T 530-8 dec & 178-8 dec; Guy 402 & 133-4.
With no more than 25 fans in the stands, T&T, with a first innings lead of 128 runs, began the final day on 14-1 and were stifled by a defence ploy from the Guyanese and were never allowed to score quickly enough to try and win the match.
In sultry conditions, night watchman Samuel Badree (14) was run out at 20-2 while Justin Guillen (21) was bowled off the inside edge and Imran Khan (5) caught at short cover as Esaun Crandon struck twice in the space of seven runs to leave the score on 50-3.
Skipper Darren Ganga and Kieron Pollard joined forces and took their team to lunch before Ganga was caught behind pushing forward to a ‘slider’ from off-spinner Steven Jacobs three overs after the interval, to break the 68-run partnership and leave T&T on 118-5.
Ganga, who made fifty in the first innings, struck five fours and batted for 115 minutes in his 43 and his demise was soon followed by the removal of Pollard at 131-6 when the powerful right-hander lofted Jacobs to long-off after hitting 34 from 52 balls and 76 minutes with three fours.
Sherwin Ganga (5) was bowled at 140-7 as Christopher Barnwell took his first wicket at this level while Jacobs, bowling a steady line, trapped Gibran Mohammed (17) leg before at 164-8 as the visitors were never able to cut lose despite an unbeaten 20 from Ravi Rampaul. E. Crandon (3-31) and Jacobs (3-32) were the most successful bowlers for Guyana.
The declaration was made at 13:50hrs leaving Guyana 306 to win from a minimum of 34 overs and the mandatory 15 in the last hour and at that point the encounter seemed condemned to a draw.
Assad Fudadin, who usually bats in the middle order, edged Pollard to the keeper after making two with the score on 19-1 when Guyana began their reply as T&T opened the bowling with off-spinner Sherwin Ganga and Pollard.
Leon Johnson’s penchant for the sweep shot resulted in him being leg before to Ganga for a duck as Guyana slipped to 26-2 although the ball appeared to be missing leg-stump.
When Travis Dowlin was leg before to leg-spinner Khan for two at 31-3 just after tea, T&T might have harbored slim hopes of creating a sensational win against a Guyana team which has struggled badly this season.
However, opener Barnwell, who got off the mark with a boundary down the ground before pulling Pollard savagely to the mid-wicket boundary in the second over of the innings, was his usual aggressive self and briefly give the impression that Guyana was going for the improbable victory target.
The versatile DCC right-hander played with authority before he was removed by Khan at 64-4 when nine short of his second fifty of the game. He batted for 92 minutes, faced 76 balls and hit six fours and a six. The 25-year-old Crandon was joined by first innings centurion Narsingh Deonarine who was suffering from a slight thigh strain and together they featured in an unfinished 69-run fifth wicket stand before the game was called off at 17:19hrs with six of the mandatory 15 overs to be bowled.
Crandon who smashed Ganga for consecutive fours before an under-edged boundary past the keeper brought up his half-century, was full of confidence and along with Deonarine, who seems to be back to full form, defied the Trinidadians, who struggled for penetration on the docile surface although the lads from Carnival Country were rarely short of chatter in an unsuccessful attempt to mentally unsettle the batsmen.
Crandon’s unbeaten 55, his fourth fifty at this level in his 11th game, came from 83 balls, 123 minutes and was decorated with seven fours and a six while the elegant Deonarine took his aggregate his season to 509 runs at an average of just under fifty.
His unbeaten 26 lasted 71 balls, 77 minutes and included three fours and must have been a serious contender for the Man-of-the-Match award which went to Lendl Simmons who scored 167 in T&T’s first innings. Guyana face the Windwards in their next match at the Stadium from Friday and Test batsman Sewnarine Chattergoon and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul should be fit enough to play.
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