Defending champions Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar (RHTWSB), Young Warriors (YW), West Berbice and Canje all advanced to the semi-finals of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) Busta Champion of Champions competition recently.
While Canje advanced via the walkover route after Scottsburg United failed to turn up for their fixture, the other three teams recorded easy victories over their opponents with RHTWSB and Young Warriors defeating Berbice Police and Bermine by seven wickets, while West Berbice took care of Blairmont by five wickets.
At the Area ‘H’ Ground, Berbice Police batted first in a match reduced to 44 overs-a-side due to overnight rain and were bowled out for 111 from 32.3 overs, despite getting a rousing start from Cyrus Gibson (25) and Kevin Henry (21).
Jerry Heyliger supported with 20, but it was not good enough against the spin based attack which was employed by the home team and introduced in the sixth over of the match, with Troy Matheison (3-15) and Assad Fudadin (3-17) leading the way.
RHTWSB who defeated Port Mourant in last year’s final then scored 115-3 from 21.2 overs with Renwick Batson (27), Fudadin (25) and Jason Sinclair (20) leading the way with the bat to see their team through to the next round.
At Canje, Bermine, asked to take first strike in another rain reduced match, scored 140-8 from their 40 overs with Essequibo’s senior Inter-county player Andrew Williams top scoring with 37 while Joemal La Fleur and Winston Smith contributed 19 runs each.
Charran Singh (4-25) and Davindra Ramoutar (2-24) led the bowling for Young Warriors who replied with 142-3 in 29 overs, thanks to 41 from Daryl Naraine, 28 from Seon Hetmyer and an unbeaten 22 from Balram Samaroo.
At the Blairmont Community Centre ground, that game was reduced to a 30-overs affair in which Blairmont, losing the toss and asked to take first strike rattled up 174-4, thanks to Ramesh Budhan who top scored with 64 and Bisnaraine Basdeo’s 54.
The two added 104 for the third wicket from 18.3 overs but it was not enough for West Berbice who scored 178-5 in reply, with Artley Bailey leading the way with 47 while Eon Abel supported with 44.
The semi-finals are set for this weekend with RHTWSB opposing West Berbice at the Area ‘H’ Ground while Young Warriors and Canje will do battle at Canje.
