A superb display of fast bowling from Raun Johnson, trumped fellow seamer’s Keon Sinclair’s performance and helped book Police Sports Club’s spot in the final of the Georgetown Cricket Association/Star Party Rental/GISE/ Trophy Stall division-one, two-day cricket tournament with a nail-biting 25-run win over Guyana National Industrial Cooperation (GNIC) yesterday at Police Ground, Eve Leary.
Resuming on 107-2, Police merely lasted the first session, adding 60 more runs to bow out for 167 in 44 overs. This ensured that GNIC would need a draw after taking first innings points or chase down 144 to win.
They were, however, dismissed for 119.
Police got off to a less than perfect start with 25-year-old seamer Sinclair dismantling the stumps of Kevon Boodie who added just one to his overnight score of 45.
Sinclair then ripped apart the middle order for his first five-wicket haul in the tournament.
He accounted for Boodie’s overnight partner, Jason Heyliger (29), Pernell London (11), Kelvin Leitch (07), Kester Harcourt (00) and Eon Rodrigues (11) to end his innings with 5-18 form 14 explosive overs coming in with the breeze.
Veteran spinner, Clyde Butts ripped through the tail to finish with 3-79 from 20 overs. He could have been more successful had GNIC held on to two catches off of the 61 year old former West Indies player.
In the chase, GNIC lost Mars Nicholson who failed to score while his opening partner, Vidal Crandon was trapped leg before wicket by Harcourt after hitting three fours to see GNIC to 2-25 at lunch.
Immediately after the match resumed, Quacy Ovid-Richardson tried to heave Johnson over the leg side only to have his stumps uprooted.
However, GNIC recovered well with David Dick and Shawn DeSouza putting on 52 for the fourth wicket to quell the momentum Police had built.
Police were further frustrated with Dick given two lives after London dropped him at second slip and Leitch doing the same at short leg.
Skipper of the side, Boodie continued to keep an attacking field on a flat track with two slips and a gully but the bowlers were whipped into the outfield often, especially from Dick who struck Johnson for successive fours in the same over, through third man and square leg respectively.
DeSouza followed the same free scoring approach, hitting left arm orthodox, Heimchan Persaud to mid-wicket for a boundary but tried to replicate the shot and picked out Andrew Lyght Jr., for the top score of 34 with four fours and one six.
Jermaine Grovesnor partnered with Dick as the two chipped away at the score before Lyght Jr., pulled out his athletic skills to recover the ball which had bounced awkwardly to short mid-off, catching it one handed over his head and executing a direct hit that had Grovesnor short of his ground heading back to the striker’s end.
Dick was out leg before wicket for 29 while Johnson pushed back Jason George’s stumps and London made good of his blunder early on to hit practically one stump from square leg to remove Gajanan Suknanan as GNIC slumped to 118-8. Sinclair became Johnson’s fifth victim trying to swipe down the leg side.
Johnson bagged 5-32 from 14 overs while Harcourt collected 2-20 from 6.1 overs which included the wicket of Butts off his first ball after being brought back in as a change for Persaud.
Police will now face Demerara Cricket Club for the first division two-day title.
