Everest Cricket Club and Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) marched into the final of the Georgetown Cricket Association Speaker’s Cup T20 tournament after convincing victories yesterday in the semi-final.
In the first semi-final DCC registered a five-wicket win over arch rivals, Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) in a low-scoring encounter.
Batting first, GCC could only muster 85 for eight from their allotted 20 overs while DCC reached their target of 86 with an over to spare, losing five wickets along the way.
Nkosi Beaton stifled the GCC batsmen from scoring and picked up 3-9 from his four overs including the prized wickets of Deonarine Seegobin and Ronaldo Alimohamed who both failed to get off the mark.
Support came from Dexter George with 2-17 as well as Steven Sankar and Carlton Jacques with one wicket a piece.
Martin Pestano-Belle top scored with 21 from 40 balls while Devon Lord chipped in with 20 from 23 balls. Zachary Jodah contributed 18 and Khemraj Jaikarran made 10.
DCC’s innings was off to a shaky start as Joshua Wade trapped Sachin Singh leg before wicket off the first ball of the innings. But Raymond Perez ensured his side got over the line with a composed 31 from 48 balls. His innings featured three boundaries before Lord had him trapped leg before wicket.
Beaton returned to stroke 28 not out from 29 balls while Brandon Jaikaran made 13.
Meanwhile, Everest defeated Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO) by 17 runs on home turf. Everest posted 182 for five while MYO were bowled out for 165 in 19.5 overs.
Clinton Pestano accelerated Everest’s scoring with an 18-ball 55 not out. Pestano smashed six sixes and three fours while sharing an unbroken partnership of 87 for the sixth wicket with David Williams who made 28 not out from 21 balls. Richie Looknauth chipped in with 41 from 35 balls as his innings was decorated with five boundaries.
Rajendra Chandrika rolled back the clock with a 24-ball 26 while extras accounted for 16. Suresh Dhani bagged 2-37.
MYO were conservative for the first phase of the innings with their openers, Alex Rodrigues (26) and Safraz Esau (20) adding 43 for the opening wicket while Sheldon Alexander made 25 from 16 but with the scoring rate gradually creeping up, it was shifting in Everest’s favor especially with the fall of MYO captain, Omesh Danram who was caught at long off by Akshaya Persaud off of Looknauth for 17.
However, Damian Vantull was not going down without a fight as he smashed Shamar Joseph for 21 runs in the 17 overs, leaving 38 required from the last three overs. But Persaud backed himself with his left-arm spin and picked up consecutive wickets including that of Vantull to swing the match back in Everest’s corner.
Everest sniffed blood and went in for the finish with three wickets falling in the 19th over to essentially seal the deal. Pestano eventually ended with 2-23 while Persaud returned 3-24.
