On a cloudy day which saw murkier crowd behaviour, Guyana captain CarlHooper provided the sole flash of brilliance as he struck anundefeated 95 against Southern Windwards to take his team to 216 forthree in a rain-shortened match of 30 overs

Staff Reporter05-Oct-2001On a cloudy day which saw murkier crowd behaviour, Guyana captain CarlHooper provided the sole flash of brilliance as he struck anundefeated 95 against Southern Windwards to take his team to 216 forthree in a rain-shortened match of 30 overs.Hooper belted five sixes and four fours, getting his runs off only 59balls, taking advantage of his luck with the toss to post a commandingtotal against an attack that had no answers to his strokeplay. Hefound an able ally in opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who made a patient58.Southern Windwards, in reply, could muster only 136 for the loss offive wickets within the 30 overs. Opener Devon Smith offered someresistance, 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 fromthe Guyana Cricket Board to the crowd to refrain from interruptingplay by invading the pitch. The appeal came in the wake of a briefstoppage of play when, thinking that the match was over, severalspectators rushed on to the field to congratulate the players. Theinvasion brought back memories of a similar incident during a WestIndies-Australia one-day international in 1999 when onlookers stormedin to snatch stumps and Steve Waugh’s bat even as the Australia triedto complete the winning runs.