Guyana 143 for 6 (Sarwan 29, Chattergoon 25, Foo 23*, Moore 3-18) beat Combined Campuses and Colleges 142 for 9 (Reifer 49, Cush 4-30)
Scorecard
Guyana had some anxious moments halfway through their chase when they lost three of their senior batsmen in 10 deliveries, but another cameo from Jonathan Foo helped them pick up their second successive win and assured them a spot in the semi-finals. Their bowlers had done the job earlier in the day, keeping Combined Campuses and Colleges to a modest total, with offspinner Lennox Cush taking a hat-trick in the final over.
The chase of 143 looked on track despite the loss of Travis Dowlin, Man of the Match in the victory on Friday, in the first over. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Sewnarine Chattergoon didn't have too much trouble taking Guyana to 57 for 1 after eight overs - the only chance being a reprieve for Chattergoon on 10 when wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton grassed an outside edge.
CCC's fightback started when Sarwan mishit a pull which was snapped by Nekoli Parris at midwicket after juggling it thrice. It was a similar stroke that had ended Sarwan's innings against Windward Islands as well, and the Guyana captain was livid at losing his wicket. His mood didn't improve when Narsingh Deonarine sliced a catch to extra cover in the next over. Three balls later, the set batsman, Chattergoon, also fell to an overhead catch by Omar Phillips at backward point.
Royston Crandon hit a couple of boundaries but he was soon stumped by Walton, and with Christopher Barnwell making slow progress, the asking rate sneaked up towards 10 with five overs to go. Foo crashed a boundary to extra cover in the 16th over to revive Guyana's chase, before Barnwell smashed the first ball of the next to the midwicket boundary. Foo rounded off that over with a clean hit towards the sightscreen. Three more fours in the next over, which completed a forgettable debut for Rubel Brathwaite, brought it down to nearly run-a-ball in the final two overs, which was easily picked off with four deliveries to spare.
It shouldn't have been such a convoluted chase after CCC had been kept down to 142. Following a 40-minute delay due to rain, the CCC openers made contrasting starts: Miles Bascombe hammered Cush for 15 in an over including a six over square leg as he raced to 31 off 16, while Romel Currency watchfully made his way to 8 off 13. Currency's first attempt to clear the infield led to his dismissal in the sixth over, and Bascombe also holed out to midwicket after a quiet two-over spell.
From there, the innings revolved around another substantial innings from captain Floyd Reifer, who battled his way to 49 despite a leg injury. A short ball was clubbed over the bowler Crandon's head, and another was heaved beyond midwicket. As the innings progressed, Reifer found it harder to run between the wickets and started scoring almost exclusively in boundaries. There were four fours in quick succession to push CCC to 123 for 4 after 17 overs. However, just as he set himself up for a final assault, Reifer was run out by a Sarwan direct hit and CCC could only make 19 runs from the final three overs.
The last over of the innings, from Cush, started well with a swipe over midwicket for six but the batsmen swung each of the next three deliveries to fielders in the deep to hand Cush a hat-trick, and spark wild celebrations. Guyana and Cush would have expected a simple victory at that stage but their batsmen were made to work hard by a spirited CCC team which for the second game in a row fell just short of victory.
