The Jamaica Star :: Sport :: Guyana lose championship lead after a draw against Jamaica

friendship, barbados (cmc)

Reigning champions Guyana slipped to second in the points table after their drawn penultimate round TCL Group West Indies Under-19 match against Jamaica at the Yorkshire Ground yesterday.

Set 256 to win from a minimum of 60 overs plus the final hour, Guyana - led by a defiant unbeaten 85 from skipper Eugene La Fleur - reached 167 for eight by the close in fading light.

Having lost first-innings honours in the fixture, the Guyanese only picked up three points and moved to 31 points, three behind new leaders Barbados (34), going into the final round, which begins Thursday.

The Jamaicans, who face Barbados in their final match, moved from 14 to fourth place on 20 points and can no longer win the championship.

La Fleur faced 176 balls, batted for 278 minutes and reached the boundary 13 times while adding 52 in 22.3 overs with pacer Keon Joseph, who made eight not out from 68 balls to see Guyana to safety after they had joined forces with their team in trouble on 114 for seven after tea.

Refused singles

The pint-size La Fleur put his team first and on several occasions refused singles to keep the strike as he closed in on what would have been a maiden century at this level.

Earlier, Jamaica - with a 140-run first-innings lead after Guyana only mustered 214 all out in reply to their 354 for nine declared over the weekend - resumed their second innings on 47 for one.

The Jamaicans lost Courtney Allen (2) to medium pacer Seon Hetmyer in the day's first over with the score on 49.

Kennar Lewis, one of three Jamaican centurions in the competition, did not last long as Guyana, without strike bowler Joseph (hip-bone injury), went on the defensive in bright sunshine.

Heyliger trapped Lewis (seven) leg before at 61 for three as Jamaica desperately tried to score quickly to keep their chances of an outright win alive.

Wicketkeeper Heyliger missed a stumping chance against Blackwood, when he was 23, and the opening batsman stroked the medium pacer for consecutive boundaries and clipped Hetmyer for consecutive sixes, the first of which brought up his 50 from 59 balls in 91 minutes with six fours and a six.