A sterling all-round performance from national player Rajiv Ivan steered the Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets to a 25-run victory over Albion clinching their 9th title in the 10th Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club (RHTYSC) Busta Champion of Champions tournament.
Held at the Port Mourant Community Centre, play was delayed by half hour due to extra moisture on the pitch.
Eventual champs RHTGG won the toss and batted and Ivan, who was recently involved in the senior
training camp for the Guyana team, struck six fours and two sixes in his match-winning 74-ball 80 as his side racked up a decent 203 for 8 off 46 overs.
Bowling for Albion, Gudakesh Motie ended with 2 for 37 from nine overs while Jonathan Foo took 2 for 25 from his nine overs. National leg spinner Devendra Bishoo’s nine overs cost 51 runs and he failed to take a wicket.
Foo returned with the bat to top score with 70 as Albion was dismissed for 179 off 44.3 overs. Troy Mathieson bowled well capturing 3 for 22 from 9.3 overs while Man of the Match Ivan took 2 for 28 runs from his 9 overs
Former national player Delbert Hicks (24) and former national Under-19 player Dominic Rikhi (25) laid a solid start adding 46 for the first wicket before Hicks was removed by national U17 off-spinner Daniel Lewis.
Experienced wicket-keeper/batsman Jason Sinclair and Rikhi then carried the score to 57 in 18th over before the latter was stumped off the bowling of West Indies Under-19 spinner Motie. Sinclair, who struggled with his timing, was joined by Ivan who from his first ball looked confident.
Together they added 62 crucial runs off 14 overs, before Sinclair was bowled off the inside edge by off-spinner Sharaz Ramcharran for 26. Ivan with support from his teammates then carried RHTGG to 203 for 8 from their allotted 46 overs.
During the Albion chase, Balchan Baldeo (4) was the first to go LBW to medium-pacer Clinton Pestano in the third over. Mathieson, who opened the RHTGG bowling, then dismissed discarded Guyana and West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon (9) leaving Albion at 14 for 2 in the fourth over.
Next to go was Ramcharran (2) who was brilliantly run out by Rikhi as Albion further slipped to 22 for 3 in the sixth over. The hard-hitting Foo (70) and David Latchaya then did the repair job for their team adding 61 in 17 overs.
However, another brilliant piece of fielding from Shailendra Shameer resulted in the run out of Latchaya who made a 55-ball 31. Bishoo (22) and the temperamental Foo who seemed to curve his natural attacking style batted well to take Albion to 137 for 4 in the 32nd over before Foo was caught by Ivan.
Two more brilliant pieces of fielding resulted in the run outs of Bishoo and Veerapen Permaul (9) which signaled the end for Albion. At the culmination of the match, Secretary/CEO of the RHTYSC Hilbert Foster described tournament as a resounding success and stated that the 10th edition of the tournament was not only well organized but had achieved all of its objectives.
President of both the RHTYSC and the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Keith Foster expressed gratitude to the Guyana Beverage Company for its continued investment in Berbice cricket and stated that the RHTYSC Busta Cup has grown into one of the premier cricket tournaments in Guyana.
Managing Director of Busta Robert Selman hailed the organising skills of the RHTYSC and expressed his total satisfaction on the organising of the tournament. Selman described the RHTYSC as a role model organisation which has represented the Busta brand excellently also announced to great applause that Busta would be renewing its sponsorship for the eleventh edition in August.
He also congratulated both teams for their excellent performances in the finals. Mathieson received supplies of Busta products for the best bowler award along with Ivan who was named Best batsman and man of the finals received a trophy and $10,000.00. Albion received the runner up trophy and the runner up prize of $50,000.00 while RHTGG carried home the beautiful Busta trophy and $100,000.00
