A fine all round team effort from Cotton Tree Die Hard enabled them to score a hard fought 45 run win over Hopetown United in the final of the inaugural Berbice Cricket Board/Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company, limited overs competition Sunday at the Bush Lot cricket ground.
Batting first after losing the toss, Cotton Tree was given a solid start of 41 run from nine overs by openers Jagdeo Persaud and Roshan Gafoor before Persaud was caught off the bowling of Emerson Benjamin for 13. Cotton Tree then lost Gafoor for 10, Shagad Gafoor for eight and Ishwar Singh for four to be in trouble at 56 for 4 in the 11th over before Pooran Persaud 23 and Fizal Khan 36 added 50 for the fifth wicket.
Useful contributions from H. Ibrahim 13 not out and Nashad Gafoor 15 enabled Cotton Tree Die Hard to reach 163 all out in 37.2 Overs. Bowling for Hopetown United, Carwyn Wayne took 3 wickets for 12 runs, Claude Saul 2 for 31 and Emerson Benjamin 2 for 38.
Needing to score 164 in 40 overs to win, Hopetown United lost opener Darwin Nelson for nine at 25 for 1 in the seventh over to pacer Aszal Haroon and Tyrone Liverpool for 12 at 34 for 2 in the following over. Stephan Adams batting at No. 3 tried his best to hold the Hopetown batting together but his teammates inability to use their feet against the spinners failed them badly especially against left-arm spinner Waqar Hassan.
Adams top scored with a well-compiled 51 (3×4, 1×6) before he was stumped off the impressive Hassan.
Only Ruel Edwards (12) and Saul (15) offered any support to Adams as Hopetown was bowled out for 128 in 29.2 Overs. Pacer Azmal Haroon had bowling figures of 7.2-1-28-3 and Hassan 8-1-22-4 for the champions.
Treasurer of the Berbice Cricket Board Anil Beharry praised the two teams for their discipline and positive attitude during the finals and hailed the tournament as a huge success.
Beharry expressed pleasure at the huge turnout of spectators throughout and said it was the aim of the BCB to get spectators to attend matches once again.
President of the BCB, Keith Foster, expressed gratitude to the management of the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company for investing in cricket in the Ancient County.
The Berbice Cricket Board, Foster stated was investing heavily in Berbice Cricket at the Zone Level in order to assist underperforming clubs to get organised.
West Berbice for the rest of the year will be benefitting from a two-day Inter-district cricket match and a 20/20 Inter-club tournament. Representative of the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company, William Lynton, praised the Berbice Cricket Board for its excellence in organising the tournament.
Lynton expressed his pleasure at the standard of play in the final and the huge turn out of fans.
He also stated that his company was pleased to be associated with the BCB. Captain of the winning team Roshan Gafoor praised both the BCB and Hand-in-Hand for sponsoring a tournament for teams in West Berbice and stated that Cotton Tree Die Hard was proud to be champions.
The winners took home $50,000 and a trophy, the runners-up $30,000 and the Man of the finals $10,000 and a trophy.
