Former West Indies under-19 opener Richard Ramdeen (77) along with Devon Clements (66) and Devendra Ramoutar (4-23) powered Young Warriors to an emphatic 88 runs victory over a Regional Chairman XI, in an organized 20/20 cricket match under the lights at the Rose Hall Canje ground last Saturday night.
Ramdeen and Clements added 152 for the first wicket from 12.4 overs, with some thunderous hitting to all parts of the small ground, with Ramdeen hitting both Rajendra Bolo (1-37) and Homchand Pooran for three sixes in one over, while Clements also struck Bolo for successive maximums to the delight of the large crowd on hand.
But the introduction of Maxie De Jonge (3-33) accounted for the wicket of Ramdeen who had earlier posted his 50 from 25 deliveries with six sixes and four fours, caught by Rajiv Ivan on the long off boundary as he attempted to hit De Jonge out of the ground. All told, he faced 32 balls and struck nine sixes and three fours for his 77.
Clements followed Ramdeen back to the pavilion in the following over, also caught by Ivan off Yougindra Harrinarine (2-26) at cover. He faced 44 balls and struck six sixes and four fours for his 66 while his 50 took 32 balls and included five sixes and four fours.
After the dismissal of the openers, Young Warriors who were looking at a target in the vicinity of 250 to 275, lost wickets rapidly and even though Balram Samaroo struck three fours in his unbeaten 18, they only managed to achieve their final total of 212-6 from their 20 overs, thanks to the bowling of De Jonge and Harrinarine.
When the Regional Chairman’s XI began their reply, they were in some early trouble at 5-3 in the second over, with Moshin Peerkhan (01), Imran Khan (00) and Pooran (00) being the batsmen back in the pavilion.
Ivan (17) and De Jonge (20) then added 30 runs for the fourth wicket, with Ivan hitting Paul Wintz over long on for six while De Jonge struck the same bowler exquisitely through the cover area for four, before Ivan who also struck Ramoutar for four was caught by wicketkeeper Ishwar Singh off Ramoutar.
Ramoutar also removed Ramnarine Chattergoon (09) while Shastri Persaud who struck two sixes of Samaroo (1-28) was run out and not even some lusty hitting from Bolo who struck a six in his unbeaten 17, and Harrinarine who scored 19 with two fours, were good enough to prevent the RC XI from faltering to defeat.
Ramoutar received support from Clements (1-0) and Michael Newland and Samaroo who both ended with 1-28.
Ramdeen was later named Man of the Match, in a match which was organized by the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six, and was presented with a trophy for his outstanding performance while Wintz collected the winner’s trophy from Faizal Jafferally.
