By Kizan Brumell
It was an all Berbice final yesterday and Young Warriors proved to Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar that they were the superior team defeating them by 25 runs to become the inaugural champions of the Noble House-sponsored Malteenoes Sports Club Invitational Twenty20 Knockout Tournament.
Nothing short of an exciting final it was as Young Warriors got to a massive 181 – 7 in 20 overs with a sterling contribution from Rudolph Baker, who remained unbeaten on 59 and former national captain Damodar Daesrath, who also contributed 59.
Baker’s performance was enough to earn him the man-of-the-match award as he took 18 balls to accumulate his runs.
The highlight of his innings was the 32 runs he scored off Assad Fudadin’s over which included four sixes and two fours.
In the end the total proved too much for Rose Hall who could only manage to get 156-9 from their allotted overs with Delbert Hicks offering some resistance with 76 (9×4, 3×6).
Young Warriors walked away with G $200,000.00 and a trophy whilst runners-up Rose Hall Windies Sports Bar settled for G $100,000 and a trophy.
Baker received a trophy and G $20,000 whilst the Most Valuable Player Award was shared by Seon Hetymyer and Fudadin.
Earlier in the first semi-final between Young Warriors and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC), the city side tumbled to 97 all out in 18.5 overs with Ricardo Jadunauth top scoring with 27 as Balram Samaroo took 2 – 17 from four overs.
Young Warriors, in reply, led by a tremendous 52 (1×4, 4×6) from Seon Hetymyer got to 102 – 7 and a place into the finals as GCC’s Leon Johnson and Jeetendra Sookdeo grabbed two wickets for 38 and nine runs respectively.
The hosts (Malteenoes Sports Club) were sent packing out of the competition by Rose Hall Town Windies Bar after they opted to bat first and posted a total of 160 – 6 in 20 overs. Neil Barry top scored with 47 (4×4, 3×6) while Ravi Narine and Troy Matheison picked up two wickets for 17 an 21 runs respectively.
In reply, Rose Hall got to 161 – 6 in 19 overs with Fudadin contributing 48 (3×4, 2×6). Jeremiah Harris, Dion Ferrier and Damien Van Tull each bagged a wicket for Malteenoes.
