Ronaldo Ali-Mohamed recorded astounding figures of 7/5 from two overs, including a maiden, to set up an easy 10-wicket win for the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Panthers over the East Coast Canje Pheasants yesterday at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground at Bourda.
Playing in a fourth-round encounter of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)/SVC/Precision Services Inc. Inter-Association T20 Blast, the Canje Pheasants won the toss and elected to bat, a decision that backfired badly. While kudos must be given to Ali-Mohamed, mediocre batting from the East Coast outfit largely aided the pace bowler in his spell.
Canje Pheasants’ skipper Rajendra Chandrika and fellow opener Nicholas Shiopersaud got off to an ordinary start, with Chandrika (11) being the first to fall leg before wicket (LBW) to Carlos LaRose in the third over, with the total at 15.
Shiopersaud (5) soon followed, caught by Steven Sankar off the bowling of Dwain Dick in the very next over for the addition of just two runs. At 17/2 in the fourth over, the rest of the Pheasants crumpled in devastating fashion, adding just 22 runs for the last eight wickets.
Ali-Mohamed entered the attack in the 9th over, and what an over it was. He snared four wickets and bowled a maiden to initiate the collapse. First, in consecutive deliveries, he comprehensively bowled Dominic Glasgow (8), then had Vishwanauth Ramlakan holing out to Devon Lord (5). In the same over, Ali-Mohamed accounted for Nizam Khan, who was caught by Brandon Jaikaran for a first-ball duck, while Sachin Singh lasted exactly two deliveries, sending a simple return catch to the bowler from the last ball of the ninth over.
The Pheasants innings would come to a brusque end in Ali-Mohamed’s next over as he removed Robin Williams (4) and the last combination of Anthony McFarlane and Neeran Bani for a pair of ducks.
Ali-Mohamed’s spell was supplemented by Dick and LaRose, who ended with figures of 1/14 (3 overs) and 1/15 (3 overs), respectively.
In reply, and requiring just 40 for victory, the Panthers opening pair of Raymond Perez and Brandon Jaikaran needed just 4.1 overs to secure victory. Perez was especially harsh on the Pheasants’ bowlers and clubbed his way to 32 from 17 deliveries, laced with a four and three sixes, while Jaikaran had 10 from 8 balls with a four.
For his performance with the ball, Ali-Mohamed received the Man-of-the-Match award, and the win means that the Panthers have secured a spot in the semi-finals with another round of group stage matches to go.
Earlier in the day at the same venue, the East Bank Eagles successfully chased down the Upper Demerara Scorpions’ 122 to notch up an eight-wicket win.
The Scorpions won the toss and opted to bat. Nobody could quite get going aside from Nichosie Barker, who opened the batting and stroked an attractive 32 (24 balls) with six fours. The Scorpions lost wickets regularly throughout their innings, failing to string together substantive partnerships as only Romeo Deonarain, who stroked a laboured 29 from 36 deliveries, along with Judell McAllister (18 from 15 balls), made any significant contributions.
The Scorpions eventually ended their innings at 122/7 from the allotted 20 overs. Leading the way with the ball for the Eagles were Baddan Baksh (2/20, 4 overs) and Quazim Yusuf (2/17, 3 overs).
In reply, and for the second consecutive match, Eagles opener Ricky Sargeant blasted an unbeaten half-century while Ershaad Ali and Shamar Yearwood stitched together good partnerships with Sargeant to lead their side to an eight-wicket win inside 15.4 overs.
After Quazim Yusuf lost his wicket with the Eagles at 9 in the second over, Sargeant and Ali combined for a 51-run partnership for the second wicket. Ali played the aggressor in his shot-filled innings of 34 from just 18 deliveries (inclusive of three fours and three towering sixes), and by the time he departed, bowled by Nichosie Barker, the Eagles were well on their way to victory at 60/2 in the sixth over.
Yearwood joined Sargeant at the crease, and the latter picked up right where Ali left off as they guided their team home to victory without further casualties.
Sergeant would end on 52 out of 42 deliveries with four boundaries and a maximum, while Yearwood, who played the role of an anchor, ended unbeaten on 25 out of 29 deliveries. For his unbeaten half-century, Sergeant received yet another man-of-the-match award.
The round-robin stage will conclude that phase with fifth-round matches on Saturday (January 13) at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) Ground.
In those matches, the UDCA Scorpions play the WDCA Jaguars at 9:00am, while the EBCA Tigers clash with the GCA Panthers at 1:00pm. The ECCB Canje Pheasants drew a bye in this round.
The top four teams from the round-robin stage will move on to the semi-finals, which are slated for GCC with a tentative date of January 14. The third-place playoff and the final are also scheduled to be played at GCC on January 20 and 21, respectively.
