East Coast Demerara (ECD) thoroughly outplayed defending champions Georgetown in the Demerara Cricket Board DCB NALICO/NAFICO under-15 limited overs tournament at the Malteenoes Sports Club ground yesterday.
There were some nervous moments for the ECD team after Georgetown opening batsman Tajenarine Chanderpaul, who batted for 44 overs out of his team’s 45 overs, returned after vomiting twice on the field to feature in a last wicket partnership with Devon George. The two brought their team within 12 runs of victory with George (26 not out) sparking life to the dreary Georgetown bench before Chanderpaul was bowled for 34.
The ECD team, despite being complacent at times, admirably defended their score of 135 from 42.3 overs. ECD bowlers gave away 32 extras but only three Georgetown batsmen managed double figure scores; Andrew Gibson was the other batsman with 13 for Georgetown that had played unbeaten throughout the preliminary rounds of the tournament.
Off-spinner Premraj Lall returned the best figures for ECD with 4-30 from his full complement of 10 overs. He was supported by medium pacer Travis Lall who finished with 2-25 from four overs.
Earlier, after ECD won the toss and batted they had an aggressive start of 42 with the player-of-the-match Brian Sattaur continuing his form throughout the tournament. He was solid from the start in his 42-ball 40 which included six boundaries before his Achilles heel was exposed and he fell to the bowling of right arm spinner Vishal Narayan, who eventually finished with miserly figures of 2-10 from his 10 overs.
Subsequently, the team lost wickets at regular intervals before Owen Andrews and Kadesh Yadram who tried to settle the troubled ship. Owens faced 50 balls and stroked two fours in his 25 while Yadram also hit two fours in his 17 after facing 50 balls also; extras also contributed a healthy 18 runs to the ECD total. Spinner Steven Sankar topped the bowlers’ column with 4-23 from 6.3 overs and Narayan supported with his two scalps.
When Georgetown batted Chanderpaul, the son of former ICC number one batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was dropped at backward point off the bowling of medium pacer Persaud. Many felt that he was also run out off a direct hit as he attempted a second run off an overthrow from the midon region.
Afterwards, like a carbon copy of his father who batted 1500 minutes without being dismissed, Chanderpaul displayed his ability to stay at the wicket, work the sheen off the ball and pick up singles and the occasional boundary.
He shared in pockets of partnerships with his teammates but no substantive partnership threatened until close to the end with George.
At the presentation ceremony President of the DCB Bissoondial Singh hailed the players for a good final while a representative of NALICO/NAFICO congratulated the teams for offering their best in the keenly contested final.
