Second round action in the Guyana Cricket Board/Tropical Springs over-40 T20 tournament yesterday saw Jai Hind Jaguars defeating Sarjoo Tigers while West Berbice Masters romped to victory over General Marine Masters in the Berbice Zone.
In the Demerara Zone, WD Mavericks gained a walk over from KV Construction while WD Masters brushed aside Bel Air Rubis Ultra Tec.
The first match at Jai Hind saw the hosts registering their second win in as many matches, this time handing Sarjoo Tigers a 38-run defeat.
Jai Hind won the toss and opted to bat under overcast conditions and a slight drizzle.
The hosts raced to 154 for seven off their allotted overs and returned to contain Tigers to 117 for seven.
Jai Hind were shocked early on as Mark Ferriera removed Imran Hussain for just six in the third over. However, Mangali Subraman and Kemraj Sumair helped the team recover from the early set back with a 51-run partnership.
Subraman stroked a 34-ball top score of 36 that featured one six off of Gopaul ‘Teddy’ Dindyal over square leg and three fours.
Subraman’s anchor-like innings ended when he strayed outside his crease and was stumped courtesy of sharp work from former national player, Orin Bailey off of Rohan Sarjoo.
Sumair batted fluently carving two sixes and two fours before holing out to long on off of Tagenarine Ramroop.
David Perreira made his debut memorable as he trapped dangerman, Zahir Moakan leg before wicket for 18 in his first over. The right arm seamer from Alexander Village then dismissed Jai Hind’s skipper, Veerapen Moonsammy, to end with two for 19.
Brisk cameos from Narine Deonarine (17 not out) and Michael Chinsammy (14 not out) ensured Jai Hind crossed the 150-run mark. Notably, secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board Anand Sanasie bowled the penultimate over of the match and would have gotten a wicket with his first ball had the catch not been dropped.
In the chase, Surendra Hiralall capitalized on his promotion to the top of the order as he got into form. Hiralall pulled two sixes over the chainlink fence towards the legside boundary and into the adjacent yard where spectators took to their veranda to witness live cricket action that was missing in the last nine months.
The right-hander also belted two fours on his way to 33 before Chinsammy trapped him leg before wicket.
Tigers’ lost opener, Mukesh Dass (02) and Timothy Jonas (00) to R. Kassim who picked up two wickets for two runs while skipper, Sanjeev Datadin held out to long on and saw them slipping to 37 for three at the end of the powerplay.
Sarjoo followed Datadin and picked out the long on off of Mangali, who ended with two for eight.
A spirited effort from Tagenarine Ramroop gave Tigers a bit of hope as he smacked three sixes, one of which traveled over the trench behind the sight screen. Ramroop eventually top scored with 39 before being caught at mid-wicket to hand Sumair his third catch of the day. His efforts were too late as the asking rate had climbed beyond control and eventually Tigers were tamed.
Meanwhile, in the second encounter at the venue West Berbice Masters rebounded to beat General Marine Masters by six runs in a low-scoring affair.
General Marine won the toss and elected to bat first, posting 91 for nine from their 20 overs. In Reply, West Berbice raced to 92 for four with four overs to spare.
General Marine looked poised for a big score as they reached 51 for two at the half way stage but Rajpan Hemraj ripped through the middle order to end with four for eight. He was supported by Masiah Persad who took two for nine.
Diaram Hemraj top scored with 23 while Mustak Shaw and Khemchand Persaud were the only other batsmen to reach double figures with 18 and 13 runs respectively.
In the chase, Persaud returned to remove both West Berbice openers and limit them to 29 for two at the end of the powerplay. He ended with two for eight.
However, it was an unruffled innings by Jaipaul Hiralall that made the difference.
Hiralall effortlessly climbed to 44 not out. His innings featured four sixes and one four as he shared a 53-run third wicket partnership with Rajpan Hemraj. Hemraj was a mere spectator in the partnership as he scored only 11 runs before being caught on the boundary.
In Georgetown at the Everest Cricket Club ground both matches were rained out while at the Enmore Community Centre, WD Mavericks earned a walk over from KV Construction Legends.
In the afternoon match at Enmore, WD Masters recorded a seven-wicket victory over Bel Air Rubis Ultra Tec via the Duckworth, Lewis and Stern method.
With rain forcing the match to be reduced to a 15-overs-a-side affair, Bel Air decided to bat first after winning the toss but were kept under wraps as they staggered to 78 for nine. Richard Ramdeen top scored with 18 while only Nirmaldeo Sarwan and Dexter Jones reached double figures with 10 each. Seenarine Mathura and Abil Hanif had two wickets each for WD Masters.
Due to the rain interruption, WD Masters were set a revised target of 78.
In reply, Ramesh Thakur (19) and Sudesh Persaud (18) forged a 41-run stand for the second wicket to set up the match while Chabiraj Ramcharan and Patrick Khan were both left unbeaten on 17 as WD Masters reached their target.
