NORTH SOUND, Antigua (CMC) – A career-best spell from Andre Russell helped to undermine reigning champions Guyana, and inspired Jamaica to a sensational, come-from-behind, 50-run victory in a low-scoring match on the opening day of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship on Monday. Russell collected three wickets for eight runs from three overs, and ran-out Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, as the reigning champions were dismissed for a meagre 65 in 17.3 overs, in reply to Jamaica’s modest 116 for seven off 20 overs in the second match of the competition at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
No Guyana batsman passed 20, as Travis Dowlin with 14 and Royston Crandon with 11 were the only two batsmen to reach double figures.
Krishmar Santokie ended with the flattering figures of two for nine from 2.3 overs, and Dave Bernard Jr collected two for 17 from three overs and held two catches to complete a tidy all-round performance that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.
Marlon Samuels had stroked four boundaries in the top score of 42 from 48 balls for the Jamaicans, after they were sent in to bat.
Bernard made 22 shared 32 for the second wicket with Samuels in the largest stand of the innings before the Jamaicans faded badly in the second half of their innings.
Royston Crandon was the most successful Guyana bowler with three for 21 from his allotment of four overs.
Typically, Guyana failed to get a brisk start from Dowlin and left-handed opening partner Sewnarine Chattergoon when they started the chase.
Santokie bowled Chattergoon for three in the fourth over, and Russell tilted the balance, when Sarwan failed to beat his direct hit from mid-on, and was run-out for six-ball duck to leave Guyana 14 for two in the fifth over.
But the match was over as a genuine contest, when Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Christopher Barnwell were all dismissed for six runs in the space of 21 balls, as the Guyanese plunged to 29 for five in the 10th over.
Earlier, Jamaica too, suffered an early setback, when Xavier Marshall was caught at slip off Esaun Crandon for two in the second over.
Samuels joined Bernard, and they got the Jamaicans moving with a steady, if not spectacular stand, running well between the wickets, and striking boundaries in-between when the chance presented itself.
Bernard was bowled in the eighth over, when he charged Permaul, and missed a slog, but the innings was transformed, after Danza Hyatt was caught at backward point for 13 in the 13th over.
No other batsman could adequately increase the tempo, and the innings went into terminal decline.
Jamaica face Combined Campuses & Colleges in their second match today at the same venue, where Guyana meet English county champions Somerset.