KINGSTON – Tino Best lived up to his surname and upstaged Davendra Bishoo to all but put Barbados into the semi-finals of the WICB Regional One-Day Competition, following a convincing 151-run victory over Guyana yesterday.
The fast bowler collected a career-best five for 24 from five overs, as the Barbadians successfully defended a target of 252, when they dismissed the Guyanese for 100 in 21.5 overs in their second Group B match at Sabina Park.
Ryan Hinds completed a tidy all-round performance with three for 34 from 6.5 overs, and fellow left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn collected two for 19 from six overs.
Leon Johnson hit the top score of 25, but no other Guyanese batsman reached 20.
Hinds formalised the victory when he trapped tail-ender Keon Joseph for four. The win puts Barbados on top of the group with a maximum eight points.
Barbados will face the West Indies High Performance Centre at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium in their last group match on Tuesday, while Guyana will meet the Leewards at Sabina Park.
Bishoo had undermined the Barbadians with his crafty leg spin, also taking a career best of six for 36 from his full allotment of ten overs.
But Jonathan Carter struck two fours and four sixes to lead the way with 60 from 63 balls, and Dale Richards hit seven fours in 56 from 59 balls to anchor Barbados to 251 all out in 49.3 overs.
Hinds scored 39 from 49 balls, and put on 93 for the second wicket with Richards, and Kirk Edwards made 33 from 67 balls in a stand of 101 for the fourth wicket with Carter.
Gaining appreciable bounce from the typically hard, true pitch, Best then rocked Guyana in a four-over opening spell. He had Richard Ramdeen caught at first slip for a duck, bowled Assad Fudadin for one, had Narsingh Deonarine caught behind for a duck, and rounded it off when Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan was caught at third man for one.
Guyana had sunk to six for four in the fifth over, and there was no heroic recovery, despite the presence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the side. (CMC)
