By Avenash Ramzan
Guyana’s blind cricketers have failed to win a match in this year’s Regional T20 competition, organised by the West Indies Cricket Council for the Blind and Visually Impaired (WICCBVI), and being hosted in Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite being on the negative end of the result in their three league games, and suffering from a rained-out semi-final, the Guyanese have given a good account of themselves, according to reports emanating from the twin-island republic.
The Guyanese lost by seven wickets to Barbados, by a similar margin to Jamaica and by 16 runs to Trinidad and Tobago in the four-nation competition.
Playing against Trinidad and Tobago in a rain-affected encounter, Guyana restricted the host to 80-3 from the allotted eight overs with Rodney Ramrattan scoring 31. In reply, Guyana mustered 64-4 when the overs finished with Kevin Douglas scoring 17 not out.
Against Barbados, Guyana totalled 138-4 from the full 20 overs with Douglas hitting a topscore of 65. He received support from Patrick Howard (15), Leroy Phillips (14) and Kevin King (10), while extras were 27.
Barbados’ fourth wicket pair Haidene Forde and Ricardo Manning nailed the chase with an unbroken partnership of 87, while extras contributed 30 to the total. Forde made 45 not out, while Manning scored an unbeaten 31. All three wickets were by the run out route.
Batting first against Jamaica, Guyana posted 106-8 from 20 overs with Phillips scoring 20, Crystal Aulder 13 not out and Ganesh Singh 12 not out. Extras were 31, while Gregory Stewart picked up 2-14 for Jamaica, who responded with 110-3 from 14.1 overs.
Stewart returned with the bat to cap a solid all-round performance, scoring 39 not out, while skipper Lo-Shane Myles made 33. The two featured in an opening partnership of 70. The Jamaicans were aided by 27 extras.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s semi-finals between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados and Jamaica were rained out. However, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have advanced to Friday’s final, having finished as the top two teams from the league phase of the competition. Should the final also suffer at the hands of poor weather, the two countries will be declared joint champions.
At the end of the tournament, the WICCBVI will name a 20-member West Indies squad, which will be further trimmed to 17, to compete in the World T20 Blind tournament in India from January 28 to February 14, 2017.
