… dethrone Tower New Line Cavaliers by 18 runs 
UNIVERSAL DVD Club Berbice Titans adorned themselves in glory at the Guyana National Stadium last Sunday night, when they defeated Twenty20 powerhouse Hotel Tower New Line Cavaliers by 18 runs to walk away with the second annual DJ Stress Twenty20 Festival title.
They did not have the calibre of stars as their opponents who had at their disposal, West Indies captain Christopher Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Rayad Emrit and Marlon Samuels, but where they lacked in big names, they made up in team work and unity to come out victorious.
The victors from the Ancient County were asked to take first strike by their opponents who defeated them in the second Festival held at the Albion Community Centre ground last year and scored 132-7 from their 20 overs.
Rajiv Ivan struck a belligerent 36 which was decorated with three sixes and one four off 25 deliveries, while Homchand Pooran offered support with 22 which took him 27 deliveries to accumulate and was decorated with three fours.
But most importantly for the Berbicians, was the 33-run eighth-wicket partnership between Ivan and Krisendat Ramoo (8*; 1×4), which took them 2.4 overs to accumulate and saw their team to their eventual total after they were 99-7 in the 18th over.
All rounder Chien Gittens took 2-24 for the defending champions, who then struggled against the pace/spin attack that was in operation for the Berbicians and crawled to 114-8 from their 20 overs.
Gayle is known as one of the most feared batsman in world cricket, but failed to get going despite hitting Ramoo back over his head for a six, followed by a four through backward square leg, before Devendra Bishoo pulled off a magnificent catch off the next delivery, diving away to his left at backward point.
His loss, coupled with the early loss of Andrew Lyght Jr (2), placed NLC on the back foot and despite Samuels’ run-a -all 24 (3×4), Simmons 21 (2×4) and skipper Gajanand Singh 20 (3×4), they were not allowed to get on top of the disciplined bowling backed by an incredible fielding display by the Titans.
Skipper Royston Crandon led the bowling with 3-24 and received valuable support from Bishoo and Ramoo who took two wickets each for 26 and 28 runs respectively to ensure the $500 000 first prize and trophy went back to Berbice, leaving NLC to settle for the runners-up prize of $300 000.
In the first semifinal of the day, Titans disposed of their nemesis Gizmos and Gadgets Georgetown Pitbulls by 23 runs, despite the presence of West Indies players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo in the Pitbulls lineup.
Openers Sewnarine Chattergoon 27 (2×6, 2×4) and Richard Ramdeen 30 (2×6, 2×4), added 43 for the first wicket from 4.2 overs, but a valuable 60-run eighth-wicket partnership between Devon Clements 37 (4×4, 1×6) and Esaun Crandon 21* (1×6), carried them to 169-7 from their 20 overs.
Christopher Barnwell ended with 3-21 for the Pitbulls, who were bowled out for 146 from 19.1 overs in reply, despite West Indies opener Travis Dowlin’s authoritative 22-ball 40 which was decorated with five fours and one six.
Dion Ferrier contributed an unbeaten 28 at the bottom of the innings that was accumulated off 15 deliveries with two sixes and one four while Chanderpaul made a classy 26 that included three reverse-sweeps for four.
Bravo (0) failed to get going with the bat, as Bishoo showed the partisan crowd the level of fielding the Titans were placed under during their two weeks of training for the Festival, when he dived away to his right to pick up the T&T right-handed all-rounder off Ramoo, after the bowler had Dowlin lbw with his previous delivery.
Steven Jacobs also contributed 19 (1×6, 1×4) with the bat, but it was a tall order for the City-based team who had to contend with the bowling of Ramoo who took 4-28, along with Bishoo and Royston Crandon who took two wickets each for 14 and 34 runs respectively.
Rain and the Duckworth/Lewis system had the final say in the Hotel Tower NLC/Digicom Moosai Tigers semifinal clash, which the former won by 13 runs.
Moosai Tigers, who were led by former Guyana and West Indies right-arm leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo won the toss and, opting to take first strike, reached 156-5 from their allotted overs, thanks to William Perkins’ pugnacious 51, the lone half-century of the day.
Perkins struck five fours and three sixes in his innings which took him a total of 22 deliveries to compile, reaching his 50 from 21 deliveries with the same number of boundaries before he was lbw to Gayle.
Mario Belcon, Brian Yearwood and Nagamootoo offered support to Perkins with 33, 26 and 17 not out respectively, with Belcon and Perkins adding 65 for the first wicket from seven overs.
Gayle was the best bowler for NLC with 2-29 from his four overs, then watched as Samuels 25 (3×4), Simmons 24* (2×4, 2×6) and Lyght Jr 23 carried their team to 112-4 after 13 overs, before the rain interrupted things.
In fact, the pair of Simmons and Orin Forde who was unbeaten on 3 were battling through a light drizzle to get their team on top of the par score and that only took place when they took 23 off Yearwood’s lone over of the day, after which the drizzles became heavier, forcing the umpires to call a halt to things.
Keagan Roy took 2-24 for Moosai Tigers, who, along with Gizmos and Gadgets Pitbulls, were forced to settle for third and fourth place prize of $100 000 each, following their defeats, with the former donating theirs to charity.
In the exhibition encounter which was a 10/10 affair between Digicom McGill Superstars and the National Media XI, the former came out on top by 10 wickets, following an inept batting display from the latter.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Media XI could only rattle up 49-4 from their 10 overs, with John Ramsingh and former national fast bowler Roderick Lovell contributing 13 each.
Amit Jairam took 2-12 for the McGill Superstars, who raced to 50 without loss from seven overs, thanks to Sudesh Dhanpaul’s unbeaten 30 which included four fours and Rameshwar Persaud 8.
At the simple presentation which followed, Ramoo received the man-of-the-match and best bowler awards for the first semifinal, while Clements walked away with the best batsman, and Bishoo the most outstanding fielder.
For the second semifinal, Perkins took the man-of-the-match and best batsman trophies while Roy was adjudged the best bowler for his 2-21, which included Gayle’s wicket, and Simmons the best fielder.
In the final, Bishoo took the hog of the prizes, amongst them being the man-of-the-match, best bowler, most valuable player and most outstanding fielder while Ivan took the best batsman award.
Sudesh Dhanpaul took all four individual prizes that were up for grabs in the exhibition match, while his team pocketed the winner-take-all prize of $50 000 for their victory over the Media United XI.