PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

A sloppy final over from beanpole seamer Jason Holder gifted Guyana a dramatic last-ball win over Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in the Caribbean Twenty20 here Monday night.

With 14 runs required from the last six balls of the game, CCC squandered a golden opportunity for full points as Holder sent down a wide, a no-ball and then conceded a six of the penultimate delivery, to leave the scores tied.

Veerasammy Permaul then held his nerve in tense circumstances, scrambling a leg bye off the final delivery to lift Guyana to 160 for eight and spark celebrations in the Guyanese camp.

Brilliant effort

Earlier, Chadwick Walton blasted a superb unbeaten 99 to steer CCC to 159 for three from their 20 overs, after they were sent in at Queen's Park Oval in the feature game of the double-header.

The Jamaican right-hander stood tall with three fours and six sixes off 64 balls, anchoring a brilliant effort by the students to reach a total that put Guyana under pressure.

Guyana's innings was going nowhere at 29 for two in the fifth over, until Shiv Chanderpaul arrived to hit 38 off 33 balls and West Indies teammate Narsingh Deonarine 57 off 40 deliveries.

Left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer (4-31) accounted for Deonarine as part of a hat-trick to leave Guyana needing something special, and they duly got it from Permaul in the very last over.

No such drama was anticipated when Walton and Raymon Reifer added a busy 50 off 37 balls for the first wicket, as CCC started positively. Reifer stroked three fours in a run-a-ball 21 before holing out in the deep, but captain Kyle Corbin (25 from 28 balls) joined Walton to post another 58 for the second wicket.

Walton's approach was a measured one that mixed aggression with good running between the wickets. He chanced his arm early on, smashing a four to point and six over long-off in one over from off-spinner Royston Crandon, but once he lost Reifer he put his head down.

However, when Corbin was run out in the 17th over by good work in the deep from Jonathan Foo, CCC were only 108 for two and badly in need of runs. Walton then stepped up a gear to ensure CCC plundered 48 runs from the last three overs, with 28 coming from the last sent down by Permaul.

On 75 at the start of the final over, Walton clobbered the first delivery over long-off for six and then added three more leg-side sixes, to narrowly miss out on a well deserved century.