Tony BeccaTHE 2001 Red Stripe Bowl is over, Guyana are the champions, and looking back at it, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are probably asking themselves what went wrong.
The Leeward Islands XI never had a chance, and neither did Antigua and Barbuda, Northern Windward Islands and Southern Windward Islands.
Jamaica, however, were rated one of the two favourites, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados were good enough to win, and for them, it must have been a disappointment - especially for Jamaica who were eliminated in the semi-finals after playing to a tie with Guyana in the semi-finals, and to an extent, Trinidad and Tobago whose top batsman, Brian Lara, failed to get going in the semi-finals.
Fortune, however, favours the brave, class is class, and when all is said and done, when everything is put in perspective, Guyana deserved the title.
Some may say that by going through to the final after the tie with Jamaica, they were lucky. That, however, is not so. Guyana went through instead of Jamaica because they deserved to do so.
After defeating Northern Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands XI, Jamaica, obviously satisfied with a place in the semi-finals, refused to take up a challenge, turned in a disappointing performance against Trinidad and Tobago, and finished second in their zone.
Guyana, however, probably remembering the rules, won all three matches, topped their zone, and the rules rewarded them for doing so.
It was as simple as that - just as it was in 1999 when rain prevented play in the semi-final match between Jamaica and Barbados and Jamaica, because they had topped their zone and Barbados had finished second in their zone, went through to the final and won.
In becoming the only team to win the Red Stripe Bowl twice and the only one to win the regional title seven times, Guyana played well from start to finish.
In the preliminaries, they knocked off Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Southern Windward Islands; and chasing a winning target of 192 in 50 overs in the semi-finals, they recovered from 58 for three in 20 overs and from 165 for eight in the 48th to finish with a tie.
What separated them from the rest, however, was the fearlessness to do what they believed they had to do in order to defeat Barbados, their confidence, followed by their class in the final.
Not many teams, or captains, would drop an experienced player, a Test player, going into a final. After deciding that the way to beat Barbados was to attack them with spin, however, Guyana, or captain Carl Hooper, right or wrong, dropped fast bowler Colin Stuart and went in with one fast bowler.
Despite batting second against Jamaica and escaping with a tie, despite Trinidad and Tobago losing to Barbados after batting second; despite a pitch that looked like it would have deteriorated, and but for 1999 when rain affected the game and Jamaica, on 177 for six off 38 overs replying to the Leeward Islands 228 for seven, won by the Duckworth/Lewis system, despite the history of teams batting second losing the previous finals at Kaiser, Guyana won the toss and batted second.
Those two decisions demonstrated Guyana's fearlessness and their confidence.
The class was demonstrated by Ramnaresh Sarwan, and then, with 63 to get off 10 overs and the match heading for a tight finish, by Hooper who was simply brilliant.
