A man of the match performance from Guyana /Stanford Twenty 20 star Orin Forde, helped Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) defeat Albion Community Centre by eight runs to win the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Carib Beer/ Pepsi sponsored national Twenty20 championship for first division clubs, yesterday, at the Albion Sports Complex ground.
Choosing to take first strike after winning the toss, MSC scored 123-8 thanks mainly to a robust unbeaten 42 from Forde.
They then returned to limit Albion to 115-8 from their 20 overs with Forde claiming 3-24 from 3 overs.
In the third place playoff match played earlier, Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar, led by a five-wicket haul from Abdel Fudadin (5-11), defeated Leguan by 55 runs to take that position, a trophy and $25,000.00.
In the feature game played in front of a vociferous crowd that cheered on the home team, MSC found themselves shakily placed on 53-4 in the 13th over with the cream of the batting, including skipper Steven Jacobs (4), the veteran Neil Barry (00) and the hard hitting opener Shemroy Barrington (26) back in the pavilion.
Albion employed an all spin attack to the Thomas Lands team which proved to be effective with national under-15 of spinner Sahadeo Somai sending his first over and the second of the innings from the northern end without conceding a run.
However, Barrington decided to open his shoulders from the third over of the innings bowled by Albion’s captain Ramnarine Chattergoon.
He got a thick outside edge that went past the hands of the slip fielder enroute to the boundary, then proceeded to hit the same bowler exquisitely between cover and extra cover past a diving Jonathan Foo for another boundary.
Disaster struck for MSC when Barrington drove a delivery from Chattergoon straight to Foo, who made a great stop and in the same motion threw the ball to Chattergoon with Jacobs well short of his ground after he slipped in his bid to get back.
The score was then 26-1 in the fifth over and it soon became 30-2 when Barrington, who played cautiously in Somai’s first over,tore into the spinner striking him over mid off for four. With the ball showing signs of slowing up on the heavy outfield, Barrington and Imran Hassan, who had replaced Jacobs set off for the fourth run only to see Foo send a long return in to wicket keeper Shastri Persaud who effected the run out, finding Barrington short of the crease. Enter Dion Ferrier, another Guyana/ Stanford Twenty/20 star but he did not last long while Barry too did not hang around long enough to cause the home team any trouble, driving a delivery from Hemant Rabindranauth straight to Chattergoon at cover to leave MSC 53-4 in the 13th over.Forde and Imran Hassan added a mere nine runs before the latter was adjudged lbw to Permaul for 17, while former national wicket keeper Kenneth Wong held out to Somai on the deep midwicket boundary without scoring.
When Damian Vantull was taken by Doodnauth Lallbeharry on the long on boundary for two, MSC were in dire straits on 77-7 in the 15th over. They were indebted to former national under-19 off spinner Clive Andries and Forde, who added 45 runs in 4.4 overs. Forde decided it was time to open his shoulders and blatantly dispatched Rabindranauth over the midwicket fence for six much to the delight of his teammates.
Andries then dispatched Chattergoon over long off for his only six and when he was stumped by Persaud off Chattergoon, MSC had reached a total that proved later on to be too much for Albion. Permaul, 2-15, Chattergoon, 2-34 and Rabindranauth 2-38 were the successful bowlers for Albion who, in reply found runs hard to come by against the pace/spin attack employed by the Demerara zone champions. They lost Persaud who was caught by Barry at a deep mid off position as he attempted to hit Harris over the top at 24-1 in the 4th over. The home team then suffered a slide similar to their opponents to be 31-4 in the seventh over with Harrinarine Chattergoon who opened the batting with Persaud, offering Ferrier a return catch from a back foot drive as he tried to force the bowling in the hunt for runs. He made 15 that was decorated with two fours. His elder brother Ramnarine was then bowled by Harris when he played across a full length delivery from the quickie. And when Manoj Pooranauth was adjudged lbw to Ferrier without scoring, they were 31-4 in the seventh over.
National under-19 batsman Foo and Zameer Khan, who was given a life by Jacobs off Harris, added 27 runs for the fifth wicket before the former got an inside edge from Denroy George and was bowled for 22.
Lallbeharry, who joined Khan was harsh on George, hitting the fast bowler out of the ground with disdain. Together they posted 36 runs for the sixth wicket before Khan (16) was smartly stumped by Wong off Forde, who was clobbered for 13 runs that included a huge six off the bat of Lallbeharry in his first over.
He returned in his second over to remove Khan and Permaul who was bowled without scoring in the space of three balls to leave Albion perched on 93-7 in the 17th over and needing a further 31 runs from 3.3 overs.
Lallbeharry was joined by Sharmindra Hardyal and they added 14 runs before the former, who had looked set to steer his team home comfortably was caught by Vantull on the long off boundary as he attempted to hit Forde out of the ground. He made 34 that was decorated with three fours and two sixes. Hardyal and Somai then failed in their bid to get the final 17 runs that were needed for victory in the final over bowled by George only managing nine, thus handing their opponents an easy victory and the title of national champions in the process. Forde, who received a trophy and $10,000.00 for his efforts, ended with 3-24 and was supported by Harris and Ferrier who both claimed 2-9.MSC took home a trophy and $100,000.00 whilst Albion received a trophy and $50,000.00.
