Right handed middle order batsman Totaram Persaud Sunday slammed an unbeaten half century to propel Number 69 Vikings to the 2015 4R Bearings T20 title over rivals Number 70 at the Crabwood Creek Sports Complex ground.
Chasing a modest 135 runs for victory Persaud blasted three fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock of 53.
He was aided by Vishwanauth Lallbeharry’s innings of 30 and an unbeaten knock of 21 from Mahendra Gooniah as Number 69 Vikings reached 135 for 5 off 18.5 overs.
Needing some 35 runs off the last three overs, Persaud went into over drive hitting the first delivery bowled by Omesh Kumar for six and then following up with a boundary in an over that saw 17 runs being leaked.
This left the equation at 21 runs from 12 balls and Gooniah, who up until then had been milking the bowling for singles mainly, started the penultimate over with a straight hit off the bowling of Thameshwar Kumar and followed up with a boundary before giving the strike to Persaud who cleared the fence and then had the distinction of scoring the winning runs, with a cut shot to the point boundary to seal victory with seven balls remaining.
Earlier, batting first, Number 70 ‘A’ were dismissed off the final ball of the innings for 134 with the top score of 34 coming from wicketkeeper/batsman Alim Haniff.
An opening stand of 20 promised much but thereafter wickets fell at regular intervals and after being 35-3 and then 87-5, Number 70 slumped and then 87-5 the rest of the Number 70 batsmen lost their way and fell for the below par total.
Bowling for Number 69 Vikings, Deon Bramdit and L. Roopchand each picked up two wickets.
Persaud was named man of the match and at the presentation ceremony which followed Number 69 Vikings received the 4R Bearings 20/20 trophy and $100,000 while Number 70 ‘A’ the runner up trophy and $25,000.
Vikings also collected $20,000 from Ramesh Tropical Auto Sales. The company also presented $10,000 to Persaud and $5,000 to Number 70 ‘A’.
The final was witnessed by a capacity crowd which included Managing Direc-tor of 4R Bearings, Ricky Deonarain who in brief remarks said that he was pleased with the way the competition was run by the Upper Corentyne Cricket Association.
He expressed satisfaction with the standard of the competition
And said that he was looking forward to the day when the Upper Corentyne area would be able to produce a test cricketer.
Roopnarine also committed 4R Bearings to sponsor the competition for a third year in 2016. The competition featured 20 teams from Yakusari to Crabwood Creek and was played in four zones on a round robin basis home and away (IPL style).
The top two teams then advance from each zone to the knock out stages of the competition. Prizes were also presented to the century makers and the 5-for bowlers in the tournament. Naeem Yacoob of Number 70 ‘A’ (101 vs Number 72 All Stars), Samdat Singh of Number 64 Fighting Marines (109 NO vs Number 69 Red Rose and 105 NO vs Number 70 MYO) and Christopher Jaundoo of Skeldon (150 NO vs Number 72 All Stars).
The bowlers with 5 of more wickets in an innings were Mahindra Tajnarine of Number 69 Red Rose (6 for 9 vs Skeldon Com-munity Center), Ramzan Subhan of Number 64 (6 for 18 vs Number MYO), Sunjay Deochan of Number 70 (5 for 13 vs Number 73), A Jeffery of Scottsburg (5 for 15 vs Young Royals), P. Lensankar of Number 59 (5 for 18 vs Number 48), Jermaine Reid of Corriverton (5 for 13 vs Number 72 All Star), Naeem Yacoob of Number 70 ‘A’ (5 for 17 vs Number 72 Cut and Load), Deoprakash Ramdat of Coriverton ( 5 for 15 vs Number 73), Totaram Persaud helped Number 69 Vikings ( 5 for 10 vs Number 70 ‘A’), Zaheer Mahamed of Yakasari (5 for 20 vs Number 48), A. Mahamed of Yakasari (5 for 20 vs Number 48), Niapaup Iyana of Yakasari (5 for 33 vs Number 52), Vadanand Singh Number 64 (5 for 16 vs Skeldon) and Jason Itwaru of Number 64 (5 for 10 vs Number 69 Red Rose).
Vikings’ captain Sachin Ramrattan receives the winning team’s trophy.
