Led by an unbeaten 87 from Man-of-the-Match Veerapen Permaul, coupled with an impressive spell of bowling from Gudakesh Motie (4-15), Corentyne defeated Leguan/Wakenaam Combined by 112 runs, in the final of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Ministry of Education under-15 inter-district competition yesterday.
Winning the toss and choosing to take first strike in the match which was played at the Guyana National Stadium and reduced to 30 overs due to overnight and early morning rain, Corentyne reached 195-6, then bowled out Leguan/Wakenaam for 83 from 19.1 overs in reply.
Corentyne’s innings got off to a bad start when Shalendra Shameer was caught by Zameer Zaman at mid on off the bowling of Ahmad Khan without scoring off the fourth delivery of the match, before Permaul and Karamchand Mohabali added 68 for the second wicket from 12 overs.
Mohabali was severe on the Essequibo Islands-based team, hitting five fours in his score of 38 made from 40 deliveries and even though he was dismissed caught by Armand Narine also at mid on off Zaman, Permaul found useful partners in Rajendra Dasrat (16) and Merron Williams (20).
Permaul reached his 50 with a four over mid on off the bowling of Moin Khan from 67 balls, and celebrated in fine style with a big six over long on from the next delivery, as Corentyne who had defeated North Georgetown in their semi-final match-up looked to pile up the runs on their opponents.
Khan had some consolation when he removed Dasrat in the 20th over, while 11-year-old Seunarine Oudit removed Williams and Videsh Lall (05) to help peg things back for their team, but Permaul who is the younger brother of national left arm orthodox bowler Veerasammy Permaul continued to take the fight to the bowlers for his team.
Oudit ended with 2-17 for Leguan/Wakenaam Combined who despite having the highest team score (205) in the tournament found the bowling of the Berbice-based Corentyne team, which was made up of 11 of the 18-man squad selected for the upcoming GCB/Castrol inter-county under-15 tournament, too much to handle.
Like their opponents, they too lost a wicket in the first over – this time Ahmad Khan who was run out off the second ball for one, but Tulsiram Preamnauth (14) and skipper Ricardo Adams (11) added 25 for the second wicket from four overs to stage a revival for their team.
But Preamnauth was caught by Corentyne’s skipper Shawn Perreira at point off the bowling of Jarvis (1-22) while Adams and Tatteshwar Chetram (00) were dismissed in quick succession to leave their team stuttering on 284 in the fifth over.
Adams’ dismissal must have hurt him tremendously as he was looking sound with his clean hitting of the ball as both himself and Preamnauth had taken boundaries in one of Lall’s over before they were dismissed, with Adams going via the run out route following a dropped catch.
Zaman had replaced Preamnauth and even though he was hitting the ball hard, he was picking out the fielders and in one such instance he struck a ball back to Pereira who failed to hold onto the offer but saw the ball trickle back onto the stumps at the non-strikers end to find Adams short of his ground.
Zaman made amends for Adams’ demise by hitting Pereira for two boundaries as he was joined by Vishal Mascedos and together they added 33 runs for the fifth wicket before they were both dismissed in the space of nine balls.
Zaman brought up the 50 by hitting Jarvis through, followed by another boundary through backward square leg in the eighth over but after seeing Mascedos going lbw to Motie’s first delivery, he too survived two dismissal chances before he went on the third.
He was dropped by Williams who was stationed at point off Lloydel Lewis when on 25 and was given another life off the next delivery, when the wicketkeeper failed to gather a return from Motie but Williams made amends for his miss by running him out on the next delivery for a top score of 30 made off 18 deliveries and including four fours.
At 70-6, it was no turning back for Corentyne who played nine of their 11-based Berbice under-15 players and by 4:20 pm it was all over bar the shouting for them when Motie who took a stiff caught and bowled chance from Paul Williams (12) and had Ian Andrews (00) caught by Mohabali, accounted for Oudit who was caught by Lall for two.
Permaul received a trophy for his Man-of-the-Match award while both he and Motie were the recipients of a cricket bat for the best batsman and best bowler awards respectively.
Apart from their runner-up trophy, Wakenaam/Leguan Combined skipper Ricardo Adams also won for himself the best fielder award, for which he received a bat.
The distribution of prizes was done by acting president of the GCB Bissoondial Singh, who was assisted by vice-president of the GCB and president of the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) Sheik Ahmad.