-winner plays TSU in finals
FOLLOWING their commanding victories in the quarterfinals, yesterday, ‘B’ and ‘F’ Division have booked a place in the semifinals of this year’s C. Persaud Dental Services sponsored Guyana Police Force’s Commissioner of Police Inter-Division T20 competition.They will face off at 0:900hrs this morning at the Police Sports Club ground in the lone semifinals, following which the winner will oppose Tactical Services Unit (TSU) in the finals which bowls off at 14:00hrs this afternoon at the same venue and carries a first place prize of $200,000.
In yesterday’s encounter at the Guyana Defence Force ground, ‘F’ Division, who gained a walk over from Presidential Guard in the first round, lost the toss and were asked to bowl first to ‘D’ Division, who were bowled out for 100 off the final delivery of their 20 overs.
D. Henry topscored with 25 which included two sixes and two fours while Solomon -who refused to give his Christian name despite being asked on numerous occasions, and K. Singh made 17 each.
National selectee Trevor Benn led his troops well with the ball, picking up 3 for 3 and got support from Kelsey Roberts who got 3 for 8 and Roderick English’s 2 for 11 for ‘F’ Division who in reply raced to 104 for 3 from 12.5 overs.
This was mainly due to Keith Jobe’s 28 (2×6, 2×4), 21 from Richard Blahnum which included three successive sixes off Lolichand and an unbeaten 21 from Benn that was decorated with back to back sixes off Lolichand (1 for 38) and two fours, as Bhojnarine Lalbachan took 2 for 5 for the losers.
At Eve Leary, TSU faced a strong ‘A’ Division lineup in the first fixture of the day and were asked to bat first by their more illustrious opponents whose lineup included Rawle Browne, Kelvin Leitch, Jason Heyliger and Darson LaRose, all with first division experience for the GPF cricket team.
However, it was the bowling of Deon Parris who took 4 for 27, which shook the TSU lineup and left them precariously placed on 36 for 3 and later 73 for 4, as the burly medium pacer removed Stephon Blacks 30 (3×4, 1×6), Bertie Carmichael 15 (2×4) and Bevon Brathwaite and Kenton Grumble who made 01 each.
In fact, Blacks and Rawle Haynes added 37 for the fourth wicket after Parris ran through the top order, before Blacks, who had struck Parris over long on for his lone six, tamely pushed the next delivery back to the bowler in his attempt to play it through the onside.
Haynes found a useful partner in Linden McKoy (16) and they pushed the score to 134 for 5, adding 61 for the fifth wicket before a visibly tired McKoy was run out in the final over, much to the delight of the ‘A’ Division team and their supporters.
However, when they took to the wicket to commence their reply, they had much reason to smile as Browne (13) and Ganesh Deokarran 15 (2×4) added 29 for the first wicket from 4.3 overs, before Haynes (3 for 11) knocked back Deokarran’s middle stump off an inside edge.
That score later became 57 for 6, as Haynes accounted for Browne who was magnificently caught by a leaping Rondell Wills at long on, when every one was shouting for six, along with Heyliger (02), even as Quintyn Sugrim (2 for 11) sent back Leitch (01) and Travis Withrite (09).
LaRose 8 (1×4) and Rolston Grenville who topscored with 21 repaired the damage with their 19 runs seventh wicket partnership, but the introduction of Blacks (3 for 6) saw the demise of LaRose, followed by Parris who was caught off Wills for 06 and Grenville, whose middle stump was knocked back by Blacks.
TSU celebrated in Blacks’ next over, when Jermaine Semple picked out Mark Wright at cover to end the contest.
In the second match of the day at the same venue, giant killers ‘B’ Division showed that their previous win over a game Headquarters lineup was no fluke, as they disposed of ‘E’ Division by 73 runs.
Batting first, ‘B’ Division scored 146 for 8 with Emmanuel Davidson leading the way with 31 (4×4), Andell Doris offering him support with an unbeaten 15 while Brentnol Woolford chipped in with 14.
O. Sobers, N. Haniff and K. Chand took 2 wickets each for 13, 22 and 26 runs respectively for ‘E’ Division, who in their turn at the wicket were bowled out for 73, after being 30 for 7, thanks to some robust hitting from Javon Thomas 15 (2×4), Caulsdale Austin 12 (2×6) and Julian Griffith 10.
Doris took 3 for 7 and Woolford 3 for 20 which was backed by Kord Griffith’s 2 for 19 for ‘B’ Division, who drew ‘F’ Division as their semifinal opponents, with TSU gaining a bye straight to this afternoon’s final.
Apart from the first place prize, the second and third placed teams will pocket $150,000 and $100,000 respectively, while the player with the Most Catches, Runs, Wickets and Sixes will each receive $20,000 and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), $25,000.
By Calvin Roberts