Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets added another title to their huge collection when they defeated Upper Corentyne (who reached the final for the first time in two decades) by 62 runs to lift the Berbice Cricket Board/Skyy Vodka T20 title in front of a packed crowd at the Number 69 Vikings Ground, Upper Corentyne yesterday
Rose Hall romped to 164-8 from their allotted overs then dismissed Upper Corentyne for 102.
Rose Hall Town got off to a cracking start with Kevin Sinclair cutting the grass square of the wicket with a first ball boundary, one of three, in a 22-run blitz.
He had lost his cousin, Junior Sinclair who was bowled in his first delivery he faced but teamed up with Kevlon Anderson for a second wicket partnership of 32.
The pair rotated the strike well and also ran well between the wickets before Kevin Sinclair was dismissed via a low catch at cover off of Davindra Budhoo. Anderson soon departed off an attempted sweep for a top score of 33 with three boundaries.
Vidal Crandon (25), Eon Hooper (31) and Keon Sinclair (13) all got starts while Sylus Tyndall coasted the two final deliveries of the innings for successive fours to see his side climbing past the 160 mark. Latchman Roopchand (2-44), Omesh Khemraj (2-30) and Budhoo (2-12) were the effective bowlers.
In reply, Budhoo was run out in a mix up while Keon Sinclair uprooted the stumps of Rishi Persaud for 16.
Thereafter only Roopchand (12) and Balram Persaud (15 not out) managed double figure scores as Shawn Pereira ripped through the middle order to finish with 4-20. Kevin Sinclair was spot on while Hooper, Crandon and Tyndall all chipped in with a wicket each
Speaking at the end of the match, President of the BCB, Hilbert Foster, reminded the runners up that it was still an accomplishment to finish second as their cricket continues to improve. He said that the eventual winners were clearly a stronger team having over seven national players in the side. Foster complimented the efforts of Rishi Persaud and Budhoo, stating that he will be making recommendations for them to be in the franchise league.
Successful captain, former national youth captain Pereira said it was really good to see the competition from Upper Corentyne but said they were outclassed with the partnership of Hooper and Anderson being the turning point. Pereira however indicated that it was a team effort and experience that saved the day.
Losing Captain Lakeram Latchman congratulated the winning team while thanking his side for their support throughout the tournament. Latchman said he felt that the runs was probably 30-20 more than they were comfortable with and the late flurry really hurt his side despite a pullback in the middle overs.
In the third place off, Albion ended the tournament on a high with a 14-run win over Skeldon. Albion were prompt to the venue, unlike Skeldon, resulting in the match being reduced to a 15-overs-a-side contest.
Albion took first strike, reaching 108-9 from their allotted overs and then restricted Skeldon to 96-8.
National under-19 player Kelvin Umroa was the star of the contest with both bat and ball, scoring 31 before taking two crucial wickets to ultimately seal the victory.
Umroa opened the batting with Kandasammy Surujnarine who clapped a quick 13 including striking the first ball of the innings square of the wicket for six before he and Sharaz Ramcharran were both bowled off of successive deliveries by Errol Byass. Umroa’s innings was shot filled, striking successive deliveries from Sherwin Murray for a six on the long on boundary and a four through square leg.
Umroa was supported by Adrian Sukhwah (21) and Mahendra Chaitnarine (13) late in the innings. Byass ended with 2-17 with Victor Pedro (2-17) and Jermaine Reid (2-19) the other wicket takers.
In reply, left arm orthodox spinner Chaitnarine dislodged the stumps of C. France before inflicting the run out of Murray and bowling Byass to reduce Skeldon to 3-36. The wickets kept tumbling and N. Deo (16), D Challitar (15) and A Bowling (14) were the only batsmen to reach double figures. The 18-year-old left arm spinners Umroa and Chaitnarine ended with 2-15 and 2-19 respectively.
