Devon Clements, Sasenarine Sukhdeo, Assad Fudadin and Richard Ramdeen hit half centuries in the fund-raising Twenty20 cricket match contested among four teams at the Rose Hall Community Centre (RHCC) ground, Canje Sunday.
Due to a late start, all matches in the preliminary rounds were reduced to 15 overs-a-side instead of 20 in a tournament organized by national middle-order batsman Gajanand Singh in collaboration with Paul Wintz and brothers Waheid and Gavin Edwards which saw the day’s proceedings going towards the purchasing of cricket gear for the youth teams of Young Warriors and RHCC.
In the first match which was virtually a semi-final between RHCC and Albion Community Centre, Clements blazed his way to a 37-ball 72, which was decorated with four fours and six sixes.
He added 121 for the first wicket from 13 overs with Sukhdeo whose 48 included three fours and two sixes as RHCC reached 145-3 from their 15 overs.
Clements was in a no-nonsense mood against the Albion bowling line-up which included Guyana and West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, national middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine, national spin twins Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo along with former national youth off spinner Orvin Mangru.
After a sedate start, Clements hit two sixes from Mangru’s first over which cost 15 runs.
But the best was yet to come when he took 28 runs off the bowling of off spinner Hemant Rabindradat in an over which read 6, 4, 6, 2, 4, 6, with the final six bringing up his 50.
However, in his haste to score faster, he was stumped off Bishoo, but not before he had hit him for sixes over long on and midwicket respectively.
In reply, Albion were held to 128-5 from their 15 overs, despite Chattergoon’s 28 which included one six and three fours. Chattergoon added 39 runs from four overs with Ranga Lachigadoo whose 44 included three fours and two sixes.
Lachigadoo also added 56 runs for the second wicket with a fighting but tired looking Deonarine whose contribution was 34. Clements returned to claim 2-18 from his three overs.
In the other semifinal, Young Warriors sent Rose Hall Windies Sports Bar crashing out of the tournament when they successfully chased down the target of 128, scoring 133-5 from a mere 12 overs.
Former West Indies youth batsmen Richard Ramdeen and Gajanand Singh added 96 runs for the second wicket following the dismissal of Farouk Hussain off the second ball.
The two clobbered anything that was short and loose from the RHTWSB bowlers, with Singh steering national all rounder Esaun Crandon twice through the vacant slip cordon for boundaries while Ramdeen hit Fudadin back over his head and midwicket for sixes which pushed the score to 119-2 in the 11th over. The end came in the next over, when Riaz Kassim (17 n.o) hit Fudadin over wide midwicket for six off the final delivery of the over.
Earlier, Fudadin, who made his entrance from the second ball following the dismissal of Renwick Batson via the run out route, treated the then fair-sized crowd to some scintillating shots during his innings of 66 when RHTWSB batted.
He hit Balram Samaroo twice over his head for sixes to push the score to 55-2 and also struck a six off Singh’s first delivery.
He took a liking to Muniram Shivdyal (2-23), when he hit the bowler twice over his head for sixes.
But he was caught by Samaroo after hitting Singh for his seventh six and, at his demise, RHTWSB were 91-3 in the ninth over.
But tight bowling from Young Warriors saw them scoring only 37 runs from the last six overs. Singh ended with 3-34.
The final was a one-man show and ended in a no-result due to bad light, despite being reduced to a 12-overs-a-side match.
RHCC batted first and scored 107-5 from their 12 overs on the back of Sukhdeo’s 70.He entertained the crowd with some lusty hitting striking five sixes and three fours and only Rakesh Beepat with 13 was able to reach double figures.
In their turn at the crease, Young Warriors reached 92-7 from 10 overs when bad light caused a halt to the day’s proceedings, with Young Warriors needing a further 16 runs to win from two overs.
Their batting was led by Singh who scored 30 (5×4; 1×6), whilst national under-19 middle order batsman Seon Hetmyer was unbeaten on 19.
Earlier, Hussain treated the crowd to some deft leg side shots when he struck three fours from the three deliveries he faced, before being dismissed off the fourth.
In an act of good sportsmanship, the organizers decided to split the first prize of $50,000 between the two finalists.
Meanwhile, the organisers would like to thank Stretch the Dollar, Gilgeous Pawnshop, Ashiek and Sons Motor Supplies and the management of Rose Hall Community Centre for the generosity they extended in making the event a success.
