By Brij Parasnath

BERBICE pacer Clinton Pestano and off-spinner Ramaal Lewis emerged as the bowling heroes that allowed Guyana Jaguars to celebrate a convincing, heart-warming 75-run victory, when they overpowered the mighty Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, and broke their unbeaten streak in this year’s Cricket West Indies Super50 Group A matches last night, at the iconic Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

The second round win will be talked about as a significant upset over the much-touted star-studded Red Force that had won all four of their previous first-round matches comfortably. They also held the upper hand going into this match, after defeating the Jaguars convincingly in their first-round battle.

Guyana Jaguars amassed a challenging 291 for 8 from 50 overs, while Red Force were bowled out for 216 in 47.1 overs.

Pestano created history and claimed a famous hat-trick with the wickets of former West Indies ODI stars Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo in his fifth over and first of a new spell with Red Force 133 for the loss of two wickets after 27 overs.

That seemed to be an impregnable position and there was a feeling that Red Force would cruise to a comfortable victory and allow the home team supporters to celebrate.

But Pestano, who has impressed with his nagging accuracy and wonderful variations, responded brilliantly and put the skids on the Trinidad and Tobago outfit.

The score was now 133 for five after 28 overs and Red Force batsmen seemed bewildered and never posed a challenge thereafter, instead folded meekly after skipper Leon Johnson shuffled his bowlers astutely.

The right-arm Pestano removed the obdurate Lendl Simmons, caught by Leon Johnson, for 70 (3×6, 7×4, 73 balls) with the third ball of his fifth over. With his very next delivery, he sent shockwaves across the stadium by dismissing Pollard who was caught by wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble for a golden duck then to crown such an impressive display he repeated the feat and entered his name indelibly in the record books by claiming Dwayne Bravo also for a golden duck.

Three international wickets in three deliveries is the dream of all bowlers and Pestano will forever remember this historic achievement. He finished with three wickets for 47 runs off nine overs.

Red Force did not recover from those shocking moments and it allowed Jamaican-born franchise player Ramaal Lewis to capitalise as he also picked up three lower-order wickets for 33 runs off his allotted ten overs. Veersammy Pemaul took one for 33 from seven overs while Reifer (1-22 off 5 overs) and Romario Shepherd (5.1-0-30-1) were the other wicket-takers.

Earlier, the Leon Johnson-led Guyana Jaguars batted first and amassed a challenging 291 for 8 in their allotted 50 overs.

Opener Trevon Griffith  with 70, Raymon  Reifer 66, Christopher Barnwell 38  and Leon Johnson 35, were the main contributors to the Guyana Jaguars overall total of 291 for 8.

Left-handed Griffith featured in three important partnerships before he became the second victim of Ravi Rampaul’s three-wicket haul. He and makeshift opener Sherfane Rutherford added 31 runs off 38 balls for the first wicket when Rampaul effected the breakthrough by having  Rutherford caught by Nicholas Pooran for 15 that included two fours off 18 deliveries.

Skipper Johnson partnered Griffith and they pushed the total to 120 with an 89-run second-wicket stand, but the captain departed from centre-stage with 35 when wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin accepted the catch off Jason Mohammed and the score now 159 for 3 in 29.1 overs. He struck one six and five fours off 53 balls.

Demerara Cricket Club’s all-rounder Christopher Barnwell joined his clubmate Griffith and they stitched together 39 runs for the third wicket when Griffith’s attractive innings ended on his personal score of 70 (1×6, 7x4s, 83 balls), caught by Dwayne Bravo off Rampaul’s bowling.

Jaguars’ Barbadian-born franchise player Reifer rallied the lower order with a fine exhibition of purposeful hitting and sensible placements for quick runs. He blasted four sixes and two fours in an entertaining innings that lasted 55 deliveries.

The left-hander was associated in three partnerships that added a further 103 runs which carried the total to 289 when he exited in the final over, caught by Kharry Pierre off Dwayne Bravo as he attempted another big shot.

Reifer and Barnwell 38 runs (2×6, 3x4s,37 balls) posted 23 runs off 5.4 overs for the fourth wicket and then added 37 with Anthony Bramble 21 runs (1×6, 1×4, 23 balls) for the fifth, and 57 with Ricardo Adams for the sixth wicket (276-6 in 48.2 overs).

Former West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul was Red Force leading wicket-taker and finished with three for 56 runs in his 10 overs while there one wicket each for Dwayne Bravo (9-0-52-1), Rayad Emrit (9-0-51-1), Mohammed (2-0-18-1) and Pierre (10-0-66-1).

Sunil Narine was wicketless but was the most economical with 10-0-39-0 in his overall analysis, especially in the final overs when the players had licence to blast at will.