Guyana maintained their lead atop the standings in the WICB Regional Under-19 One-Day Championship yesterday when they defeated Barbados by 40 runs.
Led by an unbeaten knock of 100 by Chandrapaul Hemraj, Guyana reached 237 for nine in their 50 overs before restricting Barbados to 197 for nine.
But it would have been the home side’s staggering total of 35 extras, including 29 wides, which would have hurt them most.
After winning the toss and sending Guyana into bat, Barbados found the early going tough as the opening pair of Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer dominated the morning’s proceedings.
They gave Guyana the perfect start against a bowling attack that looked uninspiring, easing along to 75 without loss in the 19th over.
But with Hetmyer on 49, he was forced to retire hurt after being hit on the ankle by a wayward throw as he completed a quick single.
This brought Hemraj to the crease, and he wasted no time in getting down to business, hoisting medium pacer Marlon Welcome-Goodman over long-on for a huge six during an over that cost 14 runs.
They would lose their first wicket shortly after though, Chanderpaul giving off-spinner Jameel Stuart an easy return catch to be out for 18, with the score on 94.
Stuart then struck again in his second over having Brian Sattaur caught at mid-on by captain Shai Hope to leave the score 103 for two.
Hetmyer duly returned to complete his half-century, but after slogging Stuart over mid-wicket for a massive six, he tried to repeat the shot but only ended up skying the ball, and Hope ran around from mid-off to take an easy catch.
His knock of 60 contained five boundaries and one six off 64 balls.
Hemraj continued his assault, launching two more sixes off Stuart, but Guyana suffered a further setback as Mohan Ramdeen drove the left-handed spin of Chad Williams straight to Stuart at mid-on, as they stumbled to 138 for four.
Four runs later, the same combination accounted for captain Shawn Pereira as Barbados started to take control of the proceedings.
But with the Guyanese seemingly in despair at 160-7, after losing Ricardo Adams and Vijai Surajpaul in quick succession, Hemraj found a worthy partner in Romario Shepherd.
Hemraj, who has represented Guyana at the senior level, in one over hit Welcome-Goodman for three massive sixes.
The duo put on a 53-run partnership to lead their team to a competitive total, with Hemraj reaching three digits in the last over. He had faced 101 balls and hit eight sixes and one four.
Both Stuart and Williams finished with three wickets apiece, for 30 and 39 runs, respectively.
In their turn at the crease, Barbados never really threatened.
Guyana’s spin attack made scoring runs difficult, and by the 25th over Barbados had crashed to 82 for four.
Apart from knocks of 45, from captain Hope, and 42, from Welcome-Goodman, no other batsman showed up for the party.
And even those innings were laboured, with Hope’s 45 coming from 92 balls and spanning over two hours, while Goodman’s knock contained just one boundary.
