By Marlon Munroe
They had no ‘superstars’ of West Indies cricket, no IPL big cheque earners to rely on. What the home grown Universal DVD Berbice Titans team had was the will to win, gusto and discipline.
The result: the dethroning of defending champions New Line Cavaliers in the final of the DJ Stress 20/20 Cricket Festival on Sunday night at the Guyana National Stadium. With West Indies skipper Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons among others in the NLC line up they found themselves being outplayed before they settled at 114-8 chasing 133 for retention of their title.
What was also evident after the Berbice win was the NLC boycott of the presentation ceremony. Berbice battled through their innings and eventually closed their innings at 132-7 with the Festival’s Best Batsman Rajin Ivan stroking an unbeaten 36 and Hoomchand Pooran supporting with 22 with NLC’s Chien Gittens topping the bowling column with 2-24.
In NLC’s response Samuels was the top scorer with a run-a-ball 24 while Simmons and Captain Gajanand Singh contributed 21 and 20 respectively. Orin Forde and Gayle also made contributions that inadvertently proved insufficient with 15 and 13.
Berbice Captain Royston Crandon accounted for three wickets for 26 runs while MVP of the Festival leg spinner Devendra Bishoo and Krishendat Ramoo had economical returns of 2-18 and 2-28 respectively.
At a time when Berbice seemed sure to be routed for a smaller total Ivan and Pooran set about the reparation work. Ivan dispatched two Simmons deliveries for six over long on and mid wicket and repeated against Paul Wintz with one overhead.
- Devendra Bishoo is presented with his MVP trophy from organise of the tournament Paul Bonar (left) or DJ Stress last Saturday. (Orlando Charles photo)
Pooran was not to be left out as he took boundaries of pacer Reyad Emritt and Wintz but none was more sweetly timed than that off the bowling of off spinner Gayle through cover before Gittens got his revenge. Ivan made one last ditch effort to push his team’s score when he lifted Gayle for an overhead four of the second ball of the last over but it was relatively quiet for the remainder of the over.
When NLC batted although Gayle faced 12 balls for his 17 the batsmen never sustained any partnerships to threaten the Berbice Titans. In the end that was the difference. Bishoo further enhanced the confidence of the Berbicians when he took a brilliant catch diving to his right to dismiss Gayle, who blasted one four and a six in his innings.
Jamaican Samuels, who recently returned from a two-year ban, looked his elegant self throughout the festival but never converted his starts to big scores. He stroked three exquisite boundaries before he departed the crease. Simmons and Simmons had similar tell tale stories: failing to convert their starts to big scores after looking extremely comfortable.
In the end the NLC needed 21 from the last over and Bishoo pulled through as he normally does and the almost packed stadium appreciated the fight of the Berbicians, especially the large Berbice contingent in the mound and stands.
In the first semi-final match the ‘homegrowns’ felled the star-studded Gizmos & Gadgets Georgetown Pitbulls by 28 runs. In that match Berbicians Devon Clements (37), Richard Ramdeen (30), Sewnarine Chattergoon (27) and Esaun Crandon (21) were the principle scorers; Clements and Crandon put on 60 for the eighth wicket in 5.4 overs before the Titans closed at 169-7 from 20 overs.
Barnwell was the most successful bowler with 3-21 before his team replied with 146 all out in 19.1 overs. West Indies batsman Travis Dowlin made 40(5×4, 1×6), Deon Ferrier was left stranded on 28 (1×4, 2×6) and Chanderpaul played three reverse sweeps for four in his 26.
Ramoo was the pick of the bowlers with 4-28 while Bishoo and Royston Crandon were again among the wickets with returns of 2-14 and 2-34 respectively.
In semi-final two rains stopped play after 12 overs into NLC’s reply to Moosai Tigers of Trinidad & Tobago score of 156-5. NLC were ahead by 13 runs of the required run rate and by virtue of the Duckworth-Lewis system they were awarded the game.
When Moosai Tigers batted William Perkins scored the only half century of the day with 51 (5×4, 3×6) and he got support from Marion Belcon (33), Brian Yearwood (26) and Mahendra Nagamootoo (17 not out). Gayle had figures of 2-29 from his four overs.
In reply Samuels topped the batsmen with 25 (3×4) while Andrew Lyght Jr. (23), Simmons (24) and Gayle (17) supported well.
In the exhibition game the Media United XI were comfortably beaten by the Digicom Superstars in a 10/10 match. The Superstars had to chase a meagre 50 for victory and they wrapped up the match in six overs with Sudesh Dhanpaul scoring 30, which included four fours.
The Media XI gave away 12 wides before the Superstars reached 50-0. When the Media XI batted John Ramsingh and Roderick Lovell scored 13 runs each while Brandon Cabose chipped in with an unbeaten nine and Marlon Munroe scored seven.
