By Brij Parasnath

DEFENDING champions Guyana will get the opportunity to defend their West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-19 50-Overs title after they defeated Barbados by 85 runs in the decisive seventh round encounter at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex in St Vincent yesterday.Guyana advanced to the final which is scheduled for tomorrow at the Arnos Vale SC and they will do battle with Windward Islands, who rallied to beat Trinidad and Tobago by three wickets in a high-scoring match at the Park Hill playing field.
At the end of the seven-team round-robin series, Windwards maintained their place atop the standings. Guyana finished second while Barbados had to settle for the third spot.
Jamaica moved to fourth overall with an easy 72-run win over Leeward Islands at Sion Hill playing field while Trinidad and Tobago were relegated to fifth.
Leewards and the ICC Americas teams occupied the minor placings at sixth and seventh respectively.
For the third consecutive match, the Guyanese players demonstrated great fighting spirit and resolve to defend small totals and emerge victorious.
The bowlers also produced excellent spells that confused their opponents and chartered some exciting victories that have now placed them in a position to successfully defend their regional limited-overs crown.
Batting first at Arnos Vale SC, the venue for the grand finale; Guyana’s openers Ronaldo Renee and Sherfane Rutherford started well with Rutherford the aggressor who counted one six and two fours off 12 balls before he departed for 16.
Renee and Raymond Perez were initially subdued but gradually got the measure of their opponents and shared a 38-run second-wicket stand. Renee made 25 with three fours off 62 balls.
Perez was joined by West Indies Youth player Keemo Paul who produced a 33-run cameo that contained two sixes and two fours and a resultant 53-run third-wicket stand.
Bhaskar Yadram (3) and Perez 37 (1×6, 2×4, 99 balls) departed at 121 and 122 and Guyana seemed to be in serious trouble, but Joshua Persaud (16), Ronaldo AliMohammed (15) and Marlon Hubbard (15) rallied the lower order and closed the innings at 183 all out in 49.5 overs.
Tremaine Harris (3 for 34) and Nicholas Kirton (3 for 15) were the leading wicket-takers.
Guyana bowlers Marlon Hubbard(4.5-1-11-4), Looknauth Chinkoo (8-0-30-2), Kheshram Seyhodan (7-2-18-1), Keemo Paul (5-0-17-1) and Sherfane Rutherford (6-1-13-1) played important roles in stifling the Barbados free-scoring batsmen and they folded up meekly for 98 in 37.5 overs with Shian Brathwaite 35 the top-scorer.
In the other key match, solid contributions by Emmanuel Stewart (92), Johann Jeremiah (61) and Alick Athanaze (45) helped Windwards celebrate a famous victory against Trinidad and Tobago who must have felt that they would finish the tournament on a high, when they posted a challenging total of 258 all out in 48.3 overs.
However, Windwards, spearheaded by talented 16-year-old Stewart, whose 92 came off 88 balls that included two sixes and nine fours; rallied to an exciting victory at 263 for 7 in 42 overs.
Joshua DaSilva had top-scored for T&T with an attractive 88 that was decorated with three sixes and nine fours off 99 balls. Keagan Simmons and skipper Kirstan Kallicharan were the other leading scorers with 32 and 38 respectively.
Jamaica tallied 167 runs for 8 wickets in their 50 overs with Brad Barnes 34, Dominik Samuels 32 and Andre Bailey 28 being the main scorers.
Jamaica bowlers, especially Tyrone Daley (10-3-23-3), Jeavor Royal (10-2013-2) and Brad Barnes (8-2-18-3); were frugal and effective as they destroyed Leewards for 95 all out in 42 overs. At the end, it was a comfortable 73-run victory that propelled Jamaica ahead of Trinidad and Tobago in the final points standings.