Rose Hall Town Bakewell moved within one match of retaining their Under-17 title in the Berbice Cricket Board/Ramnaresh Sarwan 50-overs knockout competition with wins over Port Mourant and Rose Hall Canje.
In the opening round, the defending champions took first strike against Rose Hall Canje posting 133 all out in 30.2 overs before rolling over their challengers for 100 runs.
Bakewell lost their first wicket without a run on the board but Mahendra Gopilall and Jonathan Rampersaud both stroked 28 runs while Tyrese Sealey, Lucas Arthur and Angelino Ramdehol supported with cameos of 19, 14 and 13 respectively to see their side climb to the total after a horrid start.
Isaiah Thorne and Ricardo Ramdehol claimed 3 wickets each for 27 and 24 runs respectively while Bhaskar Dhanai bagged 2-31 to skittle the defending champions.
In the chase, Rose Hall Canje were coasting along with the opening stand between Ramdehol and Avishkar Persaud adding 49 but when Ramdehol departed for 19, the team lost their remaining nine wickets for just 51 runs.
Jeremy Sandia snared 3-18 while being supported by Matthew Pattaya and Rampersaud with 2-19 and 2-20 respectively.
In the second round Port Mourant decided to bat first after winning the toss but were slow in their start, scoring just 36 runs from their first 20 overs.
Rampertab Ramnauth was the first to fall for a 42-ball seven and the batting continued to drag its feet while Bakewell strangled the scoring options resulting in Port Mourant being dismissed for 111 in the 48th over. Pattaya and Sealey claimed three wickets each while Sandia copped two.
Port Mourant found early success with the wicket of the skipper Chanderpaul Govinda in the first over but Jonathan De Vieira stroked 40 while Rampersaud steadied the ship with an unbeaten 23 to storm into the semis where they were given a bye into the final.
Bakewell will now wait on the other zone to come up to scratch with six teams vying for a spot in the final having had massive delays due to rain.
