Hooper shines but a dark day for the Guyanese Crowd

On a cloudy day which saw murkier crowd behaviour, Guyana captain Carl Hooper provided the sole flash of brilliance as he struck an undefeated 95 against Southern Windwards to take his team to 216 for three in a rain-shortened match of 30 overs.

Hooper belted five sixes and four fours, getting his runs off only 59 balls, taking advantage of his luck with the toss to post a commanding total against an attack that had no answers to his strokeplay. He found an able ally in opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who made a patient 58.

Southern Windwards, in reply, could muster only 136 for the loss of five wickets within the 30 overs. Opener Devon Smith offered some resistance, hitting 48 off 83 balls, but Guyana marched towards an 80- run victory relentlessly.

The only black spot in Guyana's day came in the form of an appeal from the Guyana Cricket Board to the crowd to refrain from interrupting play by invading the pitch. The appeal came in the wake of a brief stoppage of play when, thinking that the match was over, several spectators rushed on to the field to congratulate the players. The invasion brought back memories of a similar incident during a West Indies-Australia one-day international in 1999 when onlookers stormed in to snatch stumps and Steve Waugh's bat even as the Australia tried to complete the winning runs.