Rayad Emrit’s 4-25 followed up by blistering innings from Chandrapaul Hemraj and Tevin Imlach, piloted Rutherford Renegades to an eight wicket win over Hetmyer Hurricanes Friday night at the National Stadium, Providence in the Golden Republic T20 Bash.
Heavy smoke drifting across the international venue did not discourage the around 2000 fans who joined in the joint venture between the Guyana Cricket Board and the Ministry of Social Cohesion in celebration of Guyana’s 50th Republic Anniversary.
The vocal crowd witnessed Renegades winning the toss and inserting Hurricanes, who were kept quiet, posting 140 for nine from their allotted overs. Renegades in reply reached 144 for two with 17 balls to spare, becoming one million dollars riche in the process.
Renegade’s chase was aced by Man-of-the-Match, Hemraj, who, despite being dropped on 29, blew away the Hurricanes’ bowlers with an unbeaten 58. His innings spanned 45 balls and included three fours and three sixes, one of which went into the President’s Suite over long on as he finished the game in emphatic fashion.
The 26-year-old left-hander forged an opening partnership of 63 but played a mere spectator to Imlach who made 42 from 29 balls and stroked six fours along with two sixes. Imlach took a liking to the ball coming on to the bat especially from Ronaldo Alimohamed, whose first over leaked 20 runs including a six followed by three consecutive fours.
With Imlach holding out to deep cover, Hemraj added 31 with Leon Johnson (17) and carried Renegades over the line with an unbroken partnership of 50 with Raymon Reifer who made 23 not out from 15 balls.
Earlier, Trinidad fast bowler, Emrit was on fire as he ripped out the stumps of four Hurricanes batsmen, including Gudakesh Motie (16) and Ashmead Nedd (00) successively while adding Richie Looknauth to his tally as he ended with four for 25.
Emrit’s fiery spell was well supported by the Renegades bowlers as skipper of the Hurricanes, Shimron Hetmyer top scored with 24 from 25 balls with two boundaries. Lendl Simmons also chipped in with 23 from 18 while Kevlon Anderson and Alimohamed made 19 runs each.
Earlier in the softball battle, Regal All-stars defeated Ariel Speedboat by 14 runs to cart off the $200,000 prize.
Led by a 64-ball 85 from Keith Fraser, Regal piled on 186 for four from their allotted overs after winning the toss and batting. Regal returned to limit Speedboat to 172 for nine from their 20 overs.
Fraser whipped out the ‘broom’ to the bowlers, sweeping and reverse sweeping at will. His shots included a reverse sweep for four and a six over mid-wicket off of successive deliveries in a 17-run eighth over.
The left-hander struck four sixes and six fours before being run out off the final delivery of the innings.
Fraser’s early assault gave Regal the foundation to explode and they reached 50 for two in the eight over.
He solidified the innings by adding 135 for the third wicket with Seewchand Budhu, who also scored a half century. Budhu, who was dropped on 33, smacked two sixes and three fours during his 35-ball 55 before holing out to long on.
Richard Latif was the pick of Speedboat bowlers, taking 2-26 while Greg Singh chipped in with 1-36.
Singh and Latif returned to stroke 36 runs each while sharing a 57-run second wicket stand but with three run outs at the top of the order, Speedboat lost their speed and never kept up with the pace. Wazir Hussain scored 35 as Roy Persaud (2-41) and Fazal Rafeek (2-43) stymied the scoring rate.
