Asked to score at eight runs an over to pull off the win, Guyana saw Trevon Griffith being given a life by Akeem Dewar at deep square leg off Kevin McClean in the second over of their innings, a chance they did not pay for, as the batsman was caught by Floyd Reifer at mid on off Jason Holder for 9.
Ramnaresh Sarwan 8, (1×4) joined Shivnarine Chanderpaul and signalled his intentions with an audacious square cut off Ramon Reifer who finished with 4 for 32, including his hat-trick. Sarwan was run-out by Holder, after being belatedly sent back by Chanderpaul at 29 for 2.
At the end of their batting powerplay, Guyana were 42 for 2 with Chanderpaul on 14 which included two fours and Deonarine 6, which moved to 53, after Chanderpaul reverse-swept Ryan Austin through backward point for four, followed by another to long leg.
Kesrick Williams should have got success for CCC with his first delivery, but missed out even though Raymon Reifer took the catch at deep point to dismiss Deonarine. as the outstretched arm of Peter Nero signalled no-ball.
Chanderpaul continued to show why he was the number one Test batsman in the world twice, with another reverse sweep to backward point for four off Austin, while Deonarine joined the battle by cutting Williams through point for four, followed by another to third man pushing the score to 78 for 2.
Chanderpaul was finally dismissed for 38 (33 balls; 5×4), feathering one through to Walton off Holder, ending his 63-run third-wicket partnership with Deonarine, who was at the non-striker’s end on 28, and watched the demise of Barnwell, caught by Holder off McClean for 7.
With Foo and Christian in the dugout, Guyana needed 54 runs from six overs, as Crandon strode to the wicket to join Deonarine, who repeated his 2006 Stanford feat by pulling Dewar over wide midwicket for six, followed by an authoritative drive along the ground for four, to push the score to 117 for 4.
Deonarine emulated Walton by bringing up his half-century and the second of this year’s tournament off 33 deliveries with five fours and one six, after he drove Dewar along the ground to long on for two, while Guyana inched to 123 for 4 at the end of 15 overs, with Crandon on 2.
Guyana lost Deonarine, caught at the wicket by Walton off Ramon Reifer for 57 (33 balls, 5×4; 1×6) off the final delivery of the 17th over that was bowled by Raymon Reifer, who removed Crandon (10) and Christian (0) to complete his hat-trick.
When Foo (5) was magnificently caught by a diving Ryan Wiggins at backward point off Reifer’s final delivery in the 19th over, Guyana were 147 for 8, needing 13 to win with Bishoo on 2 and Permaul yet to score.
Holder was entrusted with the ball for the final over and having conceded three runs from the first four deliveries, he bowled a no-ball to Permaul which gathered two runs while the free hit was struck by the same batsman over backward square leg for six to level the scores.
The Berbician pair then scampered a leg bye off the final delivery and while the CCC team appealed for a run-out chance off Bishoo, the Guyanese were lining the boundary edge, waiting on the third umpire’s decision to start the invasion, which was done 30 seconds or so later, as the monitor showed not-out.
Earlier in the contest, Guyana won the toss and leaving out Steven Jacobs, Leon Johnson and Rajiv Ivan from their final 11, asked their opponents to take first strike, using the spin of Royston Crandon and the pace of debutant fast bowler Ronsford Beaton to get the contest started.
Walton and Raymon Reifer started CCC’s batting lineup and after a watchful opening over from the opening bowlers, both openers struck boundaries in the third and fourth overs, with Walton going on to cut Crandon through point for his second four, followed by a six over long on in the fifth over.
Permaul replaced Beaton at the Media Centre End and twice was struck for four by Raymon Reifer over long off, pushing his score to 21 which, along with Walton’s 24, took CCC to 50 without loss after six overs.
The introduction of Devendra Bishoo saw the demise of Reifer, who holed out to Jonathan Foo at deep midwicket off the discarded West Indies leg-spinner’s first delivery, pegging the opposition back along with the medium pace of Christopher Barnwell and gentle off-spin of Narsingh Deonarine.
Even though the Guyanese dried up the boundaries, Walton reached a well deserved half-century and the first for this year’s tournament, facing 45 deliveries and hitting two fours and one six in the process, while CCC reached 98 for 1 at the end of 15 overs.
A magnificent return from the deep cover boundary by Foo found CCC’s skipper Kyle Corbin short of his ground, bringing an end to the 58-run second-wicket partnership he shared with Walton, of which his contribution was a boundary-less 25 scored off 28 deliveries.
Floyd Reifer (2) followed next, caught by Chanderpaul off Beaton and had Barnwell held a diving chance at long on off Walton when he was on 55, CCC would have been 111 for 4. Instead the batsman said thanks by hitting the next two deliveries for six and four.
Permaul was struck for 6, 6, 2, 6, 2, 6, in the final over by Walton, on his way to his final score which surpassed Jamaica’s Danza Hyatt’s 89 as the best CT20 score. CCC reached 159 for 3, with Ryan Wiggins at the other end on 3 not out, while Bishoo’s was Guyana’s best bowler with 1 for 25.
While Walton was named man-of-the-match for his sterling performance with the bat, the most important thing for the Guyanese was the win which earned them four points and a place at the top of the points table with their next opponents being Barbados, whom they face tomorrow night at the same venue.
CCC
C Walton not out 99
R Reifer c Foo b Bishoo 21
*K Corbin run out 25
F Reifer c Chanderpaul b Beaton 2
R Wiggins not out 3
Extras (lb3, w6) 9
TOTAL (3 wkts; 20 overs) 159
Did not bat: J Holder, A Dewar, K McClean, K Williams, W Morgan, R Austin.
Fall of wickets: 1-50 (R Reifer, 6.1 overs), 2-108 (Corbin, 16.3), 3-111 (F Reifer, 17.2)
Bowling: Crandon 4-0-28-0, Beaton 3-0-26-1 (w2), Permaul 4-0-56-0 (w1), Bishoo 4-0-23-1, Barnwell 3-0-11-0 (w1), Deonarine 2-0-12-0 (w1).
GUYANA
T Griffith c F Reifer b Holder 9
S Chanderpaul c wkp Walton b Holder 38
R Sarwan run out 8
N Deonarine c wkp Walton b R Reifer 57
C Barnwell c Holder b McClean 7
R Crandon c Dewar b R Reifer 10
J Foo c Wiggins b R Reifer 5
+D Christian c Austin b R Reifer 0
*V Permaul not out 9
D Bishoo not out 3
Extras (lb3, w8, nb3) 14
TOTAL (8 wkts; 20 overs) 160
Did not bat: R Beaton.
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Griffith, 2.2 overs), 2-29 (Sarwan, 4.1), 3-91 (Chanderpaul, 11.2), 4-103 (Barnwell, 13.2), 5-136 (Deonarine, 17), 6-141 (Crandon, 18.1), 7-141 (Christian, 18.2), 8-144 (Foo, 18.5)
Bowling: R Reifer 4-0-32-4 (w2), McClean 4-0-24-1 (w3), Holder 4-0-25-2 (w3, nb1), Austin 2-0-22-0 (nb1), Williams 3-0-22-0 (w1, nb1), Dewar 3-0-32-0.
Points: Guyana 4, CCC 0.