Foo stars for Guyana

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Jonathan Foo played the innings of a lifetime to trump memorable bowling from Ashley Nurse, as Guyana were crowned inaugural champions of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, following a one-wicket victory over Barbados in the Grand Final on Saturday.

Foo struck four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 42 from 17 balls that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, as Guyana, in pursuit of 135 from their allocation of 20 overs, overcame Nurse's five wickets for 35 runs in his allotted four overs to hit the jackpot with one ball remaining.

Davendra Bishoo, later adjudged the tournament's Most Valuable Player, struck the winning runs, when he drove Javon Searles through extra cover.

Second win

The result meant that Guyana have won a regional Twenty20 championship for the second time, following their capture of the 2006 Stanford T20 Cup, and most importantly, they will represent West Indies at the Champions League T20 in September in South Africa.

When Foo came to the crease, Guyana were 72 for five with the cream of their batting - all of their line-up of West Indies batsmen - dismissed.

But the 19-year-old Foo has shown maturity beyond his years throughout the competition, and while the rest of the Guyana batting threw their wickets away, he remained calm.

He too, however, almost got caught up in the drama. With 18 needed from the last nine balls, he skied Nurse to wide long-on, where Babb ran more than 15 yards, muffed the chance, and to add insult to injury, parried the ball over the rope for a six.