After a win in their opening Red Stripe bowl match Canada faced the defending champions, a powerful Guyana side led by Carl Hooper. On paper this should have been a one-sided match, and Guyana did indeed win, but not without a real struggle, and by just 28 runs.

The Canadian bowlers and fielders gave Canada a chance of a major upset by restricting Guyana to just 187. Guyana won the toss and chose to bat, opening with Chattergoon and Sarwan. Austin Codrington had Chattergoon caught at cover early but Chanderpaul and Sarwan put together a solid partnership. The Canadians bowled a good line and length and when combined with excellent fielding, the batsman found runs hard to score- Sarwan took 28 balls to get off the mark. With the run-rate well below par, Chanderpaul essayed a big drive off Davison and was neatly stumped by Bagai. If a couple of catches had been held (Sarwan was dropped early on, and Hooper put down in the deep) Guyana could have had most of their best batting gone with only a hundred on the board. Sarwan (40) was trapped lbw by Davison, bringing in Cush, who hit his first ball for a big six. He and Hooper looked to be building a useful partnership when Cush holed out at deep mid-wicket off Davison. Davison struck again when Bagai made another stumping to dismiss Deoranine (2).

Nick de Groot had bowled just 14 overs in one-day cricket for Guyana, and had failed to regain his spot in the Guyana team last season. He made the critical, and no doubt personally satisfying, breakthrough when a superb leg-side catch by Bagai removed Hooper for 40. Wickets tumbled at the end and Guyana were never really able to accelerate; Canada were in a tremendous position to cause a huge upset when the innings closed at 187/9. Davison picked up four wickets, de Groot bowled his 10 overs for 28 runs, and Bagai was superb behind the stumps.

Former Guyana opener Fazil Sattaur opened the innings with Ishwar Maraj and set the tone with a fierce pull for four off Stuart's first over. He too was playing against his former team, and made a rapid 21 before being bowled by Test pacer Reon King with 37 runs on the board. He and Maraj had seen Canada off to a good start, but they were unable to build on this platform. Maraj played on to Nagamootoo, Chumney was fooled by McGarrell's arm ball, and Bagai was run out, leaving Canada at 74/4 with 26 overs gone. The stage was set for de Groot and Harris, and they batted carefully against good bowling. Canadian hopes died when both fell in quick succession as they tried to push the run-rate, Harris to another run-out. The tail battled bravely but Canada were all out in the 49th over as Mahindra Nagamootoo snapped up four wickets.

The Canadians all but won this match with their hard work in the field. To dismiss a side like Guyana with batsmen like Sarwan, Hooper and Chanderpaul for under 200 is no mean achievement. Guyana are an experienced side however, and can defend a small total well. Canada needed a significant innings from one of their batsmen, and this did not happen. The absence of Ian Billcliff through injury did not help, as well as losing two middle order bats to run-outs at a critical stage of the game. However Canada can be heartened by the fact they gave perhaps the strongest side in West Indies domestic cricket a real run for their money. They now take a four-day break before facing the Rest of the Windwards XI on 21 August.

© CCA/ Dave Liverman

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