A DISCIPLINED and enthusiastic Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Rest Team humiliated their opponents Demerara by 30 runs to advance to the final of the GCB organized Carib Beer/Pepsi jointly sponsored four team Twenty20 competition at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence on Saturday night. Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the victorious side which comprised of players who found it difficult to make their Inter-county squad, scored an imposing 132-8 from their 20 overs, thanks to Gajanand Singh and Trevon Griffith who both scored 24 and Shemroy Barrington’s 20.
Zaheer Mohammed took 4-31 and Amir Khan 2-20 for Demerara who were shakily placed on 4-3 in the fourth over but managed to reach 102 before they were bowled out in the final over, with Travis Dowlin 35) and Steven Jacobs 23 being their principal scorers.
Kellon Carmichael led his team’s bowling with 3-12 and received worthy support from Gajanand Singh and Ferrier who took two wickets each for 28 and 32 runs respectively.
When the Rest Team batted, Barrington was dropped by Mohammed at midwicket off Trevon Garraway on 1, when he looked to pull a short delivery, then watched as his partner Maxie De Jonge (16) pulled Garraway over mid- wicket for 6.
Barrington also struck Garraway to long leg and through mid wicket for back to back boundaries, before a magnificent one handed catch by Leon Johnson removed De Jonge off Jacobs’ first delivery.
Barrington followed soon after, lbw to Khan at 61-2 in the 11th over, and 11 runs later, Mohammed bowled Griffith all over the place as the West Indies opener looked to pull the bowler somewhere out of the ground.
Andrew Lyght Jnr (01) came but did not last long, as he too was bowled by Khan following which Gajanand Singh pulled Christopher Barnwell through midwicket for four followed by a six over  long on, while Ferrier also pulled Barnwell through midwicket for four to raise his team’s 100 in the 17th over.
In his haste to step up the scoring, Ferrier was caught by Johnson on the edge of the circle off Mohammed who watched in agony as Andre Stoll grassed an easy chance at long on off Gajanand Singh, before he gathered his wits and bowled the batsman with the next delivery, at 108-6 in the 18th over.
Vishal Singh ran a delivery from Garraway to third man for 4 before he was bowled, while Anthony Bramble, who represented Guyana in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board limited overs tournament in Jamaica, hit Mohammed over long on for 6 as his team closed on 132-8.
Demerara’s reply began in turmoil as they lost Rajendra Chandrika (00), Barnwell (00) who was run out by a direct hit from Barrington at extra cover and Johnson to be 4-3 in the fourth over against the pace/spin combination of Carmichael and Latcha who ended with 1-11 from his four overs.
Dowlin fought fire with fire by hitting Eugene La Fleur (1-19) through extra cover for four, but that did little or nothing to Demerara’s cause as the shackles applied by the Rest Team bowling saw them reach 30-3 after nine overs.
Dowlin continued to open his shoulders with a six over long on, followed by a four which went through Lyght and Griffith off Gajanand Singh, and  showed how he achieved his average of 68.00 in this form of the game, when he struck Ferrier over long on for six.
With the run rate climbing, Dowlin attempted to pull a delivery from Gajanand Singh through the leg side and was bowled, bringing an end to his 53 runs fourth wicket partnership with Jacobs which took them 8.3 overs to compile.
Jacobs was also bowled by Gajanand Singh and from 57-3 in the 12th over, Demerara were dismissed for 102, losing their last seven wickets for 45 runs, a testimony of the discipline bowling and fielding display by a team of players who were overlooked by their Inter-county selectors.
Darwin Christian (14) and Haslim and Mohammed with 10 each tried desperately to keep Demerara in the fray, but the Rest Team had other ideas in mind as they chalked up a comfortable and humiliating victory and at the same time, book a place in Friday night’s final where they will oppose the defending champions Cellink Berbice.