FINALLY, Guyana’s senior cricket team were able to land a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional title after a four year drought, when they defeated Barbados by one wicket in the final of the inaugural WICB Twenty20 tournament last Saturday.Guyana had not tasted regional glory since the Ramnaresh Sarwan led team defeated Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in the final of the Stanford T20 tournament four years ago, but thanks to the batting of 19 year old Jonathan Foo, they were able to do so at the Queen’s Park Oval in T&T. The pugnacious all rounder who plays for Albion Sports Club in the Ancient County of Berbice, was at the fore when they defeated the Windward Islands by five wickets in their first match which was played at the Kensington Oval in Barbados .

He rose to the occasion when it mattered most, plundering a 17 ball unbeaten 42 against Barbados in the final to seal the win, taking his team from a precarious position of 109-9 in the 19th over to 135-9 with one ball to spare, which netted him the man of the match award in the finals .

What was heartening about this victory, let alone the fact it came four years after the Stanford success, was the total team effort displayed by the players from the Land of Many Waters throughout the tournament.

Things got started with veteran all rounder Lennox Cush, who ended with the most wickets (11) and debutant leg spinner Devendra Bishoo (the tournaments MVP), rocking the batting of both the Windward Islands and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in Guyana’s two preliminary matches that were played in Barbados.

No other batsman on the local scene has scored more Regional T20 runs than West Indies opener Travis Dowlin and he came to the fore with his authoritative 60 against the Windwards, followed by a belligerent 59 against T&T in the rain reduced semifinal.

It was the same Dowlin who fought off attacking back spasms against T&T four years ago to hit an unbeaten 80 that brought all of Guyana glory in that memorable final that concluded with Narsingh Deonarine’s six struck over wide midwicket off Samuel Badree.

While Dowlin lived up to expectations as one of the senior batsmen in the squad, the others such as, Sarwan, Deonarine and Sewnarine Chattergoon, and to an extent Royston Crandon and Christopher Barnwell failed to get going.

In fact, Sarwan who is known to be a compulsive hooker on the international scene lost his wicket to both the Windward Islands and CCC hooking at short rising deliveries, while Deonarine looked out of sorts in the middle with the bat.

Royston Crandon did not enjoy the tournament with the bat, but had a shining moment with the ball in the semifinals against T&T, when he took the final three wickets that brought Guyana victory by four runs.

Wicketkeeper/batsman Darwin Christian redeemed himself albeit two years later, when he struck an unbeaten 9 from five deliveries against CCC to see Guyana home along with Foo who struck an unbeaten 23 from 12 deliveries.

When they left these shores, both Sarwan and coach Ravindranauth Seeram highlighted Guyana’s bowling as the weakest link in the team, but that department stood out both in the semifinal encounter against T&T and the final against Barbados .

Cush led from the front with his off spinners and received valuable support from Bishoo, Barnwell and Esaun Crandon, with Royston Crandon chipping in when needed, as he did in the semis.

The next stop for Guyana would be the Indian Premier League (IPL) Champions League which will be played in South Africa from the 10th to 26th September of this year and even though it was not mentioned publicly by those in charge of the team, the Champions League was a silent motivator.

Another motivator but this time not silent, was the 2006 Stanford winning squad of which Esaun Crandon, Sarwan , Cush , Deonarine and Dowlin were all a part of, with both Sarwan and Cush describing the unity within the present team as one of the best they have ever seen.

Certainly, it was a happy nation that rejoiced with the team when they won the US$1m prize back in 2006 and even though the prize money was not in the same bracket this time around (they got US$25,000 and a trophy), a happy country would be receiving their cricketing heroes, knowing what lies ahead within the next month.

While in South Africa , Guyana will take on India ’s Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, two of the teams in their group (Group B), which also has Lions out of South Africa and South Australia .

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) the team Guyana faces in their first match on 12th September at Supersport Park , Centurion, have players in the caliber of Jacques Kallis, Cameron White and Ross Taylor who are scheduled to appear once their native club sides that will also be participating in the Champions League, give them permission to do so.

According to the cricket website Cricinfo, RCB will have to pay their respective clubs close to US$200,000 each just for their release to represent them, something the IPL side is willing to pay and that alone depicts the priority of the tournament.

Guyana ’s next opponent will be Mumbai Indians which includes the leading run scorer in Test cricket Sachin Tendulkar, J P Duminy, Harbajan Singh and T&T’s Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard on 16th September at Kingsmead.

In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport after claiming his second hat- trick in Regional T20, Cush said they came to win five matches and lift the championship trophy in T&T.

Guyana did just that and now to emulate and go one further than T&T who played in the first Champions league in India last year, Guyana need to win six matches to become the first team from the West Indies to lift the IPL Champions League.

Can they do it and make it two out of two in one year?

I would say yes, based on the fact that it is T20 and anything can happen in this form of the game, but for now, lets all enjoy the success our national cricket team has given us.

Congrats to all of them, especially the baby of the team Jonathan Foo. They all deserve it.