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By Ricardo Inniss
Before a bumper crowd of enthusiastic Florida cricket fans, most of them favoring the favorites Jamaica, and in conditions ideally suited for cricket, Guyana, the underdogs, sprung a surprise by completely outplaying Jamaica in every capacity, to convincingly capture the first ever 2010 SFCA Sims cup. All the action took place at the North Dade Middle School, on Sunday April 25.
Mr. Sims presents the Sims Cup to Guyana captain Masood Mohamed
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Jamaica was in big trouble early, as Guyana’s right-arm opening medium-fast bowler Faizul Shareef, sent back Jermaine Thompson, who was caught by Masood Mohamed at long-off for 6, Steven Taylor, caught by Masood at short-mid-wicket before he could open his account, and Sunil Mittoo, who was caught by wicketer-keeper Rasheed Bacchus for a duck, to leave the “Reggae Boys” reeling on 13 for 3, after only 6 of the regulated 40 overs.
It took a well measured and resolute fourth wicket partnership worth 50 runs, between Mark Johnson who banged 4 fours in a solid 33 off 47 balls and Ken Wright, who cracked 3 fours in a just as solid 21 off 33 balls, to pull things around. Fredrick Redwood, batting at number six topscored with a well played 61, spiced with 5 fours and 4 sixes, off 43 balls. Keyonie Gayle scored 14 (2 fours) and was associated in a 41 run seventh wicket partnership with Redwood, that put a bit of respectability on the scoreboard. After this there was not much resistance, and the Jamaica innings folded for a modest 155 off 34.3 overs.
Bowling for Guyana, Shareef prised out 3 for 26 from 6 overs, one of which was a maiden, left-arm orthodox leg-spinner Vickram Ramoutar captured 2 for 20 from 7 overs, Skipper Masood scalped 2 for 21 with his leg-spin from 5.3 overs including 2 maidens and Imran Saddick, took 1 for 28 from 5 overs, also bowling leg-spin.
Redwood receives a trophy from the legendary West Indian batsman - Lawrence 'Yagga' Rowe
In a positive reply, Guyana, led at the top by a solid 63 ball 56, decorated with 7 elegantly stroked fours and 2 sixes from the consistent Earl Stephen, and later backed up by a solid invaluable fifth wicket stand worth 62 match-winning runs(after being 87 for 4), between Kayume Mohamed in a defiant 54 ball knock of 34, including 3 fours, and solid 31 (1 four and a six) off 51 balls from Vickram Kumar, and with Riad Mohamed and Andrew Permaul, both not out on 6 and 3 respectively, reached 157 for six, and a convincing four wicket victory that gave them the 2010 SFCA Sims cup.
The best of the bowlers for Jamaica, were left-arm orthodox leg-spinner Gayle, who bagged 3 for 32 from 7 overs, fast-man Redwood with 2 For 43 from 8 and medium-pacer Owen Roper with 1 for 12 from 7, including 1 maiden.
In summation, Guyana’s captain Masood Mohamed said “we won because we bowled and batted much better, our fielding was excellent, and we took every opportunity offered. I guess it was our day, and we grabbed it with both hands.”
Unable to get hold of Ricardo Wilson, Jamaica’s captain, I spoke with Mark Johnson who said, “we batted poorly. For a team with at least six batsmen capable of big scores, and a team that has been averaging over 250 per innings in the competition, we just failed in our batting performance. Our shot-selection was very poor.” Congrats are in order to Guyana. This is the first time they have won a major (Trophy) competition.
The Umpires were, Max Diah and Winston Lewis. The scorers were Sylvan Taylor and Mrs. Laxami Ramoutar. All photos were taken by Ivor Henry.