Browne, Adams stand out as Guyana and Windwards play to a tie
FAST bowler Shaquille Browne struck an aggressive 44 while Ricardo Adams scored the lone half-century of the match, as hosts Guyana and the Windward Islands played to a tie in their fifth and final round matchup of this year’s West Indies Cricket Board Regional Under-19 limited overs competition at the Georgetown Cricket Cub ground yesterday. Winning the toss and inviting their opponents to take first strike, Guyana reduced the Windwards to 144 for 9 in the 44th over, before Browne opened his shoulders to hit five fours and one six in the final batting power play to propel his team who lost the three-day version of the title to Jamaica, to 202 all out from 49.2 overs.
Earlier, Jerlani Robinson who made 33 with a similar number of boundaries as Browne and skipper Karem Hodge (28) added 59 for the second wicket before first class leg-spinner Amir Khan (4-32) and Lloydel Lewis and Anthony Adams who both took two wickets for 20 and 26 runs respectively, reduced their opponents to 127 for 8, when Terron Simon was caught by Ronsford Beaton at mid off.
Ray Jordan (18) and Preston McSween who made an unbeaten 16, carried the score to 144 before Khan bowled Jordan.  When Browne joined McSween, they took the final batting power play, with Browne hitting the first ball for six and taking 15 runs off the first over, bowled by Joemal La Fleur.
Together they added 58 important runs in their run-a-ball 10th wicket partnership, before Clinton Pestano (1 for 28) removed Browne off the second ball of the final over, not before the batsman had accumulated 50 runs from 4.2 overs of the final five overs of his team’s innings.
When the home team who were bowled out for 74 by newly crowned champions Barbados in their last matchup began their reply, they were staggering on 30 for 3, having lost La Fleur and Kwame Crosse who both made 2 and Dominique Rikhi 8.
Ricardo Adams and Chandrapaul Hemraj (40) carried the score to 84, before Hemraj who struck three fours in his 45-ball innings, was bowled by a delivery from McSween that kept low.
Kevon Boodie joined Ricardo Adams and they carried the score to 158, before the latter retired hurt after experiencing a nauseous feeling, when two runs away from his half-century.
This opened the way for the Windwards who narrowly lost to Jamaica in their fourth round fixture. They took three quick wickets to leave Guyana on 181 for 7, as Larry Edward walked through the home team’s lower order batting on his way to taking 4 for 33.
Ricardo Adams resumed his innings and brought up his half-century from 61 balls with three fours and two sixes, before he pushed a delivery back at Hodge who took the catch above his head, much to the delight of his teammates.
At 193 for 9 in the 42nd over, Beaton strolled to the wicket and took the batting power play that was available to them, but he and Khan (6) only carried the score to 202, before Khan looked to steal a cheeky single which would have been the winning run, but was found short of his crease by Dwight Thomas.
Points standings at the end of the limited overs category read: Barbados 26.8, T&T 15.9, Windwards 13.4, Guyana 13.2, Jamaica 11.2, Leewards 0.4