GCB T10 Blast tournament…
-Demerara Pitbulls crush Berbice Caimans
By Michaelangelo Jacobus
Action in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) T10 Blast continued yesterday with a double-header at the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) ground, Thomas Lands.
In the first game of the day, fans were served up a thriller as the Essequibo Jaguars held their nerve against Berbice Piranhas to win by a single run defending 89.
After being sent in to bat, the Jaguars made a modest 89-6 led by eventual man of the match Shemroy Barrington, who scored 47 not out off 29 balls with three fours and three sixes.
After losing opener Leon Andrews for nought, the Jaguars lost wickets at steady intervals but that did not stop Barrington from playing his shots during what would turn out to be a match winning innings in the end.
While Barrington carried his bat through the innings, Chandrapaul Hemraj (18) had the next best score as the Piranhas veteran spinner Veerasammy Permaul snapped up 2-18 (2 overs). Permaul had support from all-rounders Rajiv Ivan (1-17) and Quentin Sampson (1-12) who bowled the last over.
The Piranhas, much like the Jaguars, lost wickets regularly as Carlos La Rose and spinner Ashmeade Nedd combined to take four wickets between them to cripple the Piranhas run chase. At one point, Ivan had given his side hope with a 19-ball 36 while Sagar Hetheramani with 20 contributed valuable runs. The duo shared in a 52-run partnership to guide their side from 6/3 to 58, however, spinner Dwain Dick had Ivan out caught to break the partnership in the 7th over. From there, the Piranhas run chase spiraled downwards as Permaul and Hetheramani fell in quick succession.
Dick was tasked with defending 11 from the final over and had a horror start to the over, bowling a wide while the batsmen crossed for a run. However, Dick came back strongly, bowling a dot and conceding a single off the next two deliveries. With four deliveries left and eight runs to get, the Piranhas pair of Suresh Dhanai and Jeremey Sandia could not get the ball away. The penultimate ball of the over saw Dhanai edging the ball for four to carry the equation to three needed from two balls. Dhanai tried for a big shot from the final delivery but could only get the ball down to long-off, they ran one and set off for the second but Jamol Lafleur fielded cleanly and returned the ball to the bowlers end where Dick completed the run out of Sandia to seal the last gasp win.
La Rose and Nedd ended with identical figures of 2/16 from 2 overs each while Dick had 1/25 from his two overs.
In the second match of the day, the Berbice Caimans were mauled by the Demerara Pitbulls thanks to a particularly brutal knock of 72 from the Pitbulls skipper Christopher Barnwell.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Demerara Pitbulls blasted their way to 131-5 with Barnwell leading the charge. He smashed seven maximums and four fours during his 31-ball 72 while Damian Vantull and Sachin Singh played second fiddle with scores of 28 and 16 respectively.
Bowling for the Caimans, only spinner Devon Lord was spared in the onslaught and returned admirable figures of 4-6.
In chase of a daunting total of 132, the Caimans fell woefully short ending on 86-5, losing by 45 runs. Despite knocks from Alex Algoo (30), Kevlon Anderson (14) and Steven Sankar (19), the Pitbulls’ bowlers did an excellent job of reigning in the Caimans.
Floy Joseph led the way with 2/12 (2 overs) and received support from the Sinclairs, Junior and Kevin who had figures of 1/30 and 1/11.
Action continues today at the same venue with the Essequibo Anacondas playing Demerara Hawks at 12 pm and the Piranhas playing the Caimans at 2:30 pm.
