Despite the man-of-the-match efforts of Little Diamond Cricket Club’s Pernell London who took 5-26 to restrict defending champions Georgetown to 180 all out from 49.5 overs, East Bank were unable to piece together some worthy partnerships to surpass the target and thus lost in the final of the NALICO/NAFICO sponsored Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Inter Association under-15 50 overs competition at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground Bourda yesterday by 41 runs.
Winning the toss and opting to field first, East Bank reaped early success when opening bowler Paul O’Neil bowled the inform Alex Ramalho to vindicate his captain’s decision to field first
However, Sunil Rupee, who opened with Ramalho laboured on for his team to make an accomplished 26 and together with captain Kwame Cross (47) and Safraz Esau (36) saw Georgetown to what ended up being a winning total despite the efforts of London who had a wonderful tournament with the ball. O’Neil with 2-21 from his five overs and Devendra Deosarran 2-37 offered support to London with the ball for his team who were guilty of giving away 25 extras.
In their turn at the wicket, East Bank were routed for 139 from 49 overs with Devendra Deosarran who played some wonderful drives off the front foot with 34, Mark Anthony 21 and Jagdesh Bishun 12 being the only batsmen to offer resistance to the bowling of Raphael Singh (3-18) and Shaquille Williams (3-26) bowling for Georgetown.
At the brief presentation ceremony that followed, manager of (NALICO) Shivraj Singh offered congratulations to both teams for a wonderful game of cricket and encouraged them to strive to be better not only at their game, but as role models to other youngsters.
“We at NALICO/NAFICO will continue to sponsor this competition as it is the company’s way of giving back to the community. We certainly hope that you the players have benefitted from our input in this competition and I want to reassure you that come next year we will be behind the DCB with this venture wholeheartedly,” Singh stated.
