An all-round performance from Guyana/Stanford Twenty20 star Dion Ferrier, enabled Dutch Fort to come out on top over Lusignan Sports Club (LSC) in the final of the fifth Annual Asgar Ally Memorial Twenty20 competition held last Sunday at the Dutch Fort ground.
In a game which was reduced to 17 overs-a-side due to the late arrival of the LSC team, Ferrier guided the home team, who were asked to take first strike, to 206-6 with an unbeaten 68 which included eight sixes and three fours. He then returned with the ball to claim 3-15 as LSC were bowled out for 104 in reply. Ferrier received valuable support with the bat from Nigel Estrada who top scored with 74, helped by seven sixes and five fours. Travis Blyden chipped in with a breezy 20 that included three sixes.
C. Gangadin with 3-26 and S. Deonarine 2-48 were the pick of the bowlers for LSC.
In reply, LSC never got going and were eventually bowled out for 104 in the 14th over with S. Barath being the only batsman to offer resistance.
Barath scored 21 with the aid of two fours and one six as Ferrier took his wickets tally in the tournament to 11 and, along with the 152 runs he scored, earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Dutch Fort had earlier crushed defending champions Bee Hive by 87 runs in their semi final clash. Batting first, they made 212-6 from their 20 overs with Ferrier top scoring with 69 aided by eight sixes and two fours.
He was supported by L. Pellew who scored an unbeaten 50 with five sixes and one four and former national under-19 captain Steven Jacobs, who contributed 26 with three fours and one six.
S. Mohammed with 2-43 was the pick of the bowlers for Bee Hive who were bowled out for 125 in the 17th over.
Only R. Ragunauth, who made 45, offered any resistance to the bowling of Ferrier (4-13) and Clinton Collins (3-20) for Dutch Fort.
In the other semi final played at the LSC ground, the home team batting first against Clonbrook made 139-6 from their 17 overs with former national under-19 batsman Krishna Deosarran slamming five fours and one six in the top score of 53 while V. Ramjeet made 25 that included two sixes.
M. Rajmangal took 3-25 bowling for Clonbrook who were then held to 110-6 in their reply with S. Khan making 26.
E. Khan took 2-17 for LSC to not only give them victory, but a place in the final.
At the presentation ceremony the organizers thanked the players for a wonderful tournament and the spectators for their turn out.
Some of the clubs that participated in the tournament were given gears and stumps to help with their cricket development, whilst Dutch Fort pocketed $100,000.00 in cash and the winner’s trophy for their rewards.
Each player also received an individual trophy, while all of the players in the final received medals, wrist watches and sunglasses. (Calvin Roberts)
