Cellink Berbice snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after a hat-trick by off spinner Narsingh Deonarine sank the Demerarians by seven runs in Pepsi/Carib T20 tournament last night at the Guyana National Stadium.
Prior to Deonarine’s hat-trick Demerara had dominated every facet of the matchup. They restricted the defending champions to 112 and were cruising at 81-3 in the 16th over but some poor cricket resulted in a rapid loss of wickets and Demerara stumbled to 106-8.
Captain Leon Johnson (26), Rajendra Chandrika (25) and Travis Dowlin’s 24 and the team’s initial hold on the game proved immaterial with Deonarine’s 3-18 from his three overs. Steven Jacobs (9), Derwin Christian (6) and Zaheer Mohammed (0) were all caught by Jonathan Foo as their team required 10 to win from the last two balls.
Earlier in the evening after Demerara won the toss and sent the Berbicians into bat, skipper Assad Fudadin top scored with 38 and gained support from Richard Ramdeen (29) and from Delbert Hicks with a late undefeated 15. Pacer Andre Stoll picked up 3-18 from his four overs.
The Demerara bowlers pestered the Berbice batsmen, runs did not flow as freely. Ramdeen, who was aggressive from the start, was dropped when he was five when the score was 10 by Jacobs off Trevon Garraway.
Sewnarine Chattergoon did not benefit from such luck: he was caught by Christopher Barnwell, who did a jig to herald the dismissal. Shortly after, a struggling Deonarine was run out for nought off a direct hit from Amir Khan at mid on.
There was a quiet period before captain Fudadin pulled leg spinner Amir Khan over midwicket for four. Ramdeen and Fudadin pieced together their innings and the partnership looked poised to shift the momentum back in Berbice’s favour.
However, Mohammed struck when he had Ramdeen caught at backward square for 29, which featured two fours in 34 balls. The Demerara bowlers never let up the pressure and this duly caused the Cellink Berbice players to wilt.
Royston Crandon was run out, Fudadin was dismissed after a well-judged catch on midwicket boundary, inches away from the ropes. Fudadin hit three fours and a six in his knock which spanned 38 balls.
When Demerara replied Dowlin and Chandrika both stroked elegant boundaries through the covers. Both batsmen looked comfortable on the slow pitch as the bowling lacked sting. Then Dowlin was given a life when he was dropped on 11 by Fudadin off the bowling of Esaun Crandon.
Shortly after Dowlin punished Esaun Cradon with a one-handed drive through cover and then back over his head. After facing 23 balls, a mix up between the two batsmen saw Dowlin being run out by Fudadin.
Johnson was dropped twice by Chattergoon when on seven and nine off Royston Crandon and Deonarine. He replied by hitting Permaul for six over long on.
Chandrika lost his wicket when he was caught attempting to hit Devendra Bishoo over the ropes and got a top edge to mid on fielder Ramdeen. Chandrika’s 25 included one four. Two quick wickets fell shortly after: Barnwell was bowled by Permaul and then Johnson was run out by R. Crandon for 26.
The score had slipped to 86-4 and Demerara needed 23 from 18 balls. Then it was 18 runs from 12 balls before Bishoo had Waslim Haslim caught at midwicket by Deonarine.
With the last over Demerara needed 14 runs and Christian hit Deonarine’s first ball for four at the midwicket boundary. The second ball brought two runs and the third brought the wicket of Christian, who was caught at mid off; Jacobs was out the next ball and the Demerarians needed 10 off the last two balls.
Deonarine struck on his hat-trick delivery when Zaheer Mohammed was caught by Foo on deep midwicket boundary. Demerara fizzled to 106-8.
Scoreboard
Berbice innings
S. Chattergoon c Barnwell b Garraway 5
R. Ramdeen c Garraway b Mohammed 29
N. Deonarine run out (A. Khan) 0
A. Fudadin c Haslim b Stoll 38
R. Crandon run out (R. Chandrika) 2
J. Foo b Khan 4
D. Hicks not out 15
E. Crandon b Stoll 0
V. Permaul b Stoll 7
Extras: (w-5, lb-7) 12
Total: (8 wks from 20 overs) 112
FOW: 1-14, 2-17, 3-60, 4-63, 5-73, 6-92, 7-93, 8-112
Bowling: T. Garraway 4-0-21-1, A. Stoll 4-0-18-3, S. Jacobs 1-0-6-0, Barnwell 4-0-20-0, A. Khan 4-0-27-1, Z. Mohammed 3-0-13-1
Demerara innings
T. Dowlin run out 24
R. Chandrika c Ramdeen b Bishoo 25
L. Johnson run out 26
C. Barnwell b Permaul 5
W. Haslim c Deonarine b Bishoo 3
S. Jacobs c Foo b Deonarine 9
D. Christian c Foo b Deonarine 6
Z. Mohammed c Foo b Deonarine 0
A. Stoll not out 1
T. Garraway not out 0
Extras: (w-2, lb-5) 7
Total: (for 8 wks from 20 overs) 106
FOW: 1-42, 2-73, 3-81, 4-86, 5-95, 6-105, 7-105, 8-106
Bowling: E. Crandon 3-0-21-0, B. Bess 1-0-8-0, V. Permaul 4-0-27-1, R. Crandon 4-0-12-0D. Bishoo 4-0-15-2, N. Deonarine 3-0-18-3,
