THANKS to an unbroken 91- run third wicket partnership between Narsingh Deonarine and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, two time champions Guyana coasted to a comfortable eight wickets victory over Canada with three overs to spare at the Kensington Oval last night. Replying to their opponents 143 for 7, of which Amarbir Hansra top scored with 40 and Ruvindu Gunasekera made 38, Guyana reached 144 for 2 from 17 overs with Deonarine and Chanderpaul hitting 52 and 36 respectively in their unbroken stand.
Earlier, Hansra struck three sixes, two of which came off Veerasammy Permaul in the penultimate over of his team’s innings and Gunasekera who started the onslaught by hitting Steven Jacobs for four and a  six in his first two overs, counting five fours and one six in his 38.
Gunasekera seemed to be a batsman in a destructive mood, when he struck Barnwell over point for four before Canada lost Hiral Patel who was caught at third man by Trevon Griffith, one of two catches for the Demerara Cricket Club left handed batsman.
Gunasekera and Raza Rehman (29) added 14 for the second wicket before the former was stumped by Derwin Christian off Permaul.
Both Permaul and West Indies leg spinner Devendra Bishoo kept the Canadians tight until Barnwell reintroduced Jacobs back into the attack and the off-spinner conceded 11 runs in his third and final over, helping to push the score to 109 for 4 in the 15th over.
Despite Hansra hitting Permaul for the two sixes in the penultimate over, followed by another off Bishoo in the final over of the Canadian’s innings, Guyana who won the inaugural title of this tournament two years ago, managed to restrict the opposition to 143 from their allotted overs.
Bishoo and Barnwell took two wickets each for 21 and 29 runs respectively for Guyana who got a powerful start from Griffith and Sewnarine Chattergoon, with the former hitting Jeremy Gordon, a former Guyana first class fast bowler for four and six in the first over of the innings.
Not to be outdone, Chattergoon drove Henry Osinde with authority through extra cover for four in the second over, followed by another with disdain in Gordon’s second over, the third of the Guyanese’s innings, pushing the score to 28 without loss.
When Griffith struck Rizwan Cheema over extra cover for four, Guyana posted their 50 in the sixth over, as their openers give them the start both Barnwell and Bishoo spoke about the previous day after the near three hour long net session, before he was stumped by Hamza Tariq off the final delivery of the sixth over for 22 off 15 balls with two fours and one six.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul joined Chattergoon who was caught by substitute fielder Manninder Aulakh at deep midwicket off Junaid Siddiqui for 29 scored off 25 deliveries and decorated with five fours.
Narsingh Deonarine joined Chanderpaul and in between the singles and doubles taking, struck Siddiqui over long off for six in the ninth over, pushing Guyana to 68 for 2, while his personal score moved to 8, then watched as Chanderpaul scooped Cheema to long leg for his first boundary.
Forced to survive a close run out chance from the Canadians, Deonarine watched from the non-strikers end as Chanderpaul stroke Salman bin Nazar through the cover region for four, before Deonarine posted Guyana’s 100 in the 14th over.
The pair posted their 50 partnership off the final delivery of the 14th over, when Deonarine pulled Osinde to the vacant third man position for four, moving his score to 24 while the 36 year old Chanderpaul was on 27.
A four and six by Deonarine off Hansra, pushed the two time champions to 126 for 2 in the 16th over, while he struck Siddiqui for back to back fours in the 17th over, which all but sealed the win for Guyana, as he inched closer to his half century.
Dutifully, Deonarine got the landmark from 31 balls, with four fours and two sixes, before Guyana reached 144 for 2 from 17 overs, to complete the win with Deonarine being unbeaten on 52 while Chanderpaul offered support with 36.

SCORECARD
CANADA (20 overs maximum)
H. Patel c Griffith b *Barnwell 4
R. Gunasekara st Christian b Permaul 38
Raza-ur-Rehman run out 29
*J. Hansra run out 40
Rizwan Cheema c Griffith b Barnwell 5
N. Kumar b Bishoo 19
+Hamza Tariq c Chanderpaul b Bishoo 0
Junaid Siddiqui not out 0
Salman Nazar not out 0
Extras (lb2, w5, nb1) 8
TOTAL (7 wkts, 20 overs) 143
H. Osinde, J. Gordon did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-50, 3-94, 4-101, 5-142, 6-142, 7-143
Bowling: Jacobs 3-0-34-0, Barnwell 4-0-24-2, Permaul 4-0-17-0, Permaul 4-0-29-1, Bishoo 4-0-21-2, Deonarine 1-0-16-0

GUYANA (target: 144 off 20 overs)
T. Griffith st Hamza Tariq b Rizwan Cheema 22
S. Chattergoon c (sub) Manny Aulakh b Junaid Siddiqui 29
S. Chanderpaul not out 52
N. Deonarine not out 36
Extras (lb1, w4) 5
TOTAL (2 wkts, 17 overs) 144
S. Jacobs, *C. Barnwell, L. Johnson, R. Crandon, +D. Christian, V. Permaul D. Bishoo did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-53
Bowling: Gordon 1.5-0-22-0, Osinde 4-0-35-0, Patel 0.1-0-1-0, Junaid Siddiqui 4-0-31-1, Rizwan Cheema 3-0-21-1, Salman Nazar 3-0-19-0, Hansra 1-0-14-0

Points: Guyana 4, Canada 0