Regal Masters powered their way to a seven-wicket win over WD Masters yesterday to become the inaugural champions of the Guyana Cricket Board/ Tropical Springs over-40 T20 champions.
At the Everest Cricket Club ground, rain caused the start of the match to be delayed by 105 minutes but when the skies cleared, Regal won the toss and inserted the West Demerara side who only managed 119 for eight at the end of their quota.
Regal then raced to 120 for three in 16.5 overs to cart off the $250,000 first prize purse.
WD Masters benefited from a dream start as Ramesh Thakur and Ganesh Persaud added 53 runs for the first wicket. Thakur, who was dropped on six at mid on off of Chien Gittens went on to make a ball-a-run 27 with just one six that crashed into the sight screen.
Persuad supported with 24 from 32 balls, highlighted by two fours, one of which was swept into the square leg boundary off of David Dick.
However, when he attempted to repeat the shot, he was trapped leg before wicket to the same bowler and Thakur was run out before rain halted the match with Masters 56 for two.
Chabiraj Ramcharan looked to continue where the openers left off and top scored with 29 from 27 balls. His innings featured two sixes before holing out to long off. Anthony ‘Baby’ Ifill and Eon ‘Rapper’ Abel each took two wickets for 11 runs.
In the chase, WD Masters paid the price for dropping Gittens on zero in the first over and again on 32 as he went on to make 35. His 30-ball knock featured two fours and one six and he added 60 runs for the first wicket with Ifill who capped an excellent all-round performance which earned him the Man-of-the-Final award. Ifill, who was dropped on 19, clubbed one six and three fours on his way to 36 from 32 balls.
Former national youth player, Ejaz Mohammed rolled back the years with a responsible 26 not out while Dick ended the match in style with a six that rocketed into the John Ramsingh Media Center towards the southern end of the ground. He ended on 17 not out from 10 balls.
Speaking on behalf of the sponsor, Arvinda Gainda expressed satisfaction with the competitive nature of the teams in the tournament and pledged the company’s support in the future to host another tournament.
Honorary Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, Anand Sanasie, said that he was happy to see the tournament come off successfully and in keeping with the COVID-19 guidelines set out by the national Task Force.
