When the umpires called off the game, Guyana went automatically into the finals.
It was interesting to hear some of the questions asked at the press conference.
When a Jamaican reporter asked how it felt for the game to be decided that way, I said I thought it was something the WICB could look at. There should be a reserve day if the first day was rained out but you can't keep going on having reserve days. Therefore, the team with the most wins would have the advantage of going through to the finals. In this case, it was Guyana.
Carl Hooper agreed: ``I think the semifinal stage is pretty important-you're one game away from the final, and you don't want it to be decided by rain, so I think you should have at least one day as a reserve day, just in case you have weather like today (Friday). It's hard playing through the preliminary stages and then having a game decided by the weather.''
``Reds'' Perreira said something that many of us were thinking, that in the days between the quarters more matches could have been played to produce real results.
``I would think so,'' agreed our manager, Rangy Nanan. ``Especially at this stage of the competition, where there is a knockout. The teams went through the prelims performing well, so when you get to this stage, (it's hard) to have to go off in this manner. It's a pity it had to happen like this, so we hope the board will look into this aspect of the competition.''
How do players feel about fourth-placed still having a shot at the final, asked another journalist.
Roger Harper, the Guyana manager, re-sponded: ``I think that the team that wins the zone should qualify automatically, while the team that finishes at the bottom should have to say 'bye bye' to the competition. Because, having worked hard to win, you can then have one bad day and all your hard work would go down the drain.''
Personally, I think that if Monday's finals are rained out, Guyana, the only team in both zones to win their three preliminary matches, should be named champions.
About the game. We scored 219, a disappointing total taking into consideration the start we had. One of the main reasons for this was our running between the wickets: Lawrence, Ragoonath and myself were all run out.
Play after lunch only got under way at 3:35 p.m., with Guyana's revised target being 147 in 25 overs. They got to 72 without loss before the rain forced the match to be abandoned.
At this stage, Guyana were well up with the run-rate required, but my two match-winners, Ramnarine and Dhanraj, had not been introduced yet. Considering the destruction they wreaked in the finals last year, it is fair to say the game was far from over.
Actually, I did suggest to Harper that, to satisfy the paying public, we should re-start the game after the rain stopped. We accepted that Guyana were officially winners of the contest, but deep inside, I wanted Guyana to know they weren't going to win.
Harper did not take up the challenge.
Back in the dressing room, there were sad faces. But I think we all came to understand that the proceedings were beyond our control. As captain, I think the guys did us proud.
I'll be spending Christmas in Trinidad, thank God. See you then.