Guyana, B'dos showdown

ONCE there were eight divided in two and then there were the four fighting for a place in the final. Today it is the final two, Guyana and Barbados, in a showdown for the title as 2001 Red Stripe Bowl champions.

Starting at 9.30, it will be showtime in the lovely setting at Kaiser Sports Club in Discovery Bay.

According to the sponsors and the organisers, it is one day the fans will never forget and with so much at stake, including a magnificent crystal trophy, with both teams parading some exciting players and bubbling with confidence, it should be a day the fans should not forget.

Guyana, winners of Zone B with a perfect record of three from three, including a 32-run victory over Barbados, won a place in the final after recovering to snatch a tie in the first semi-final against Jamaica.

Barbados booked their place after staging a grand recovery and then easily toppling Zone A winners Trinidad and Tobago in the second semi-final.

Although both teams, coming from Zone B, have already faced each other, although the local fans would have loved to have seen one from Zone A, preferably Jamaica, and one from Zone B, it should be action all day.

Based on the pronouncements of the fans after the first semi-final and during the second semi-final, as far as Jamaicans are concerned, it should be Guyana, and following their victory over Barbados earlier on, despite their close call against Jamaica, Guyana must start favourites to win the bowl for the second time and the regional title for the seventh time.

Even without that psychological advantage, Guyana deserve to go in as starting favourites. In fast bowlers Colin Stuart and Reon King, right-arm leg spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, left-arm leg spinner Neil McGarrell, and offspinner Carl Hooper, they boast a good attack, and although they failed to fire against Jamaica, in Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, they possess some big guns in their batting line-up.

On top of that, Andrew Gonsalves and Sewnarine Chattergoon are two good openers, Travis Dowlin, McGarrell and Mahendra Nagamootoo three dangerous men in the middle.

Barbados, however, champions in 1976, 1977 and 1988 and losing finalists on eight occasions, cannot be written off - not only because men seeking revenge are always dangerous, but also as Floyd Reifer demonstrated against Trinidad and Tobago on Friday when he stroked an undefeated 104 off 125 deliveries, because they too have some dangerous players.

Batsmen Sherwin Campbell, and Adrian Griffith if he is in the right mood, are two of them, and so too are allrounders Ryan Hinds and Ian Bradshaw, wicketkeeper Courtney Browne, pacers Pedro Collins and Henderson Bryan, and left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn.

In the end it could be decided by the toss and both captains, Hooper and Campbell, must have been pondering since Friday night what to do if they win it.

Since the first regional limited-overs tournament back in 1976, with rain ruining two, there have been 23 finals and the team winning the toss has won 17 times.

Winning the toss, however, is not all. With the record showing that the team batting first has won eight times and the one batting second 15 times, the captains will also have to decide whether to bat first or to bat second.

It is also interesting to note that in their 11 appearances in the final, Barbados won the toss seven times, that their three victories came after they had won the toss, that they batted first once and second twice, that the four times they lost the toss they lost all four matches - twice batting first and twice batting second, and that in six times batting first they have only won once, and in five times batting second, they have won twice and lost three times.

With two of their nine finals rained out, Guyana won the toss four times and lost it three times, three times when they won the toss they won the match, unlike Barbados, they won once when they lost the toss, and they have won three times out of four batting first and once out of three batting second.

What is important is that Barbados have never lost the toss, been sent to bat, and won. Guyana, however, conquered once - in 1980 at the Antigua Recreation Ground when the Leeward Islands won the toss, sent them to bat and they rattled up 327 for seven and then routed the opposition for 224 in 41.1 overs.

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