(Compliments of Breeze and Gizmos and Gadgets)
BERBICE zone champions Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar (RHTWSB) booked their place in next Saturday’s final of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Neal and Massy nationwide first division competition, when they defeated North Essequibo by 75 runs in their national semi-final match at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground yesterday.

RHTWSB won the toss and, opting to take first strike in sunny conditions, raced to 66 without loss from 8.4 overs, before settling for 249-7 thanks to the batting of Assad Fudadin (88), Delbert Hicks (50) and Royston Crandon (44). Bowling for north Essqequibo, Suresh Persaud took 2-25.

In reply, North Essequibo failed to rally around the batting of Navin Bahadur who made a resilient 45 decorated with two fours and a similar number of sixes, as they were bowled out for 174 from 38.3 overs, thanks to Michael Cummings (3-35) and Royston Crandon who returned to claim 2-33 with the ball.

When RHTWSB batted, the 25-year-old Hicks, who made his national debut in Guyana’s final game of this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup four-day competition against Barbados, and Renwick Batson (10) treated the opening bowlers of North Essequibo with scant respect, posting 66 for the first wicket.

Hicks started things with a drive through extra cover off Persaud, followed by a sweep shot for four and a pull over backward square leg for six off successive deliveries from national Under-15 medium pacer Mark Tyrell, with the latter shot raising his team’s 50 from 5.3 overs.

A sedate-looking Batson got into the act with a four over midwicket before he picked out North’s skipper Elroy Stephney at extra cover with a lofted drive off Vishwanauth Lall but his demise brought Fudadin to the wicket and, along with Hicks who took 42 balls and struck five fours and two sixes in his 50, was caught by Rajeev Manickchand off Stephney at extra cover.

The show began for the small gathering of North Essequibo supporters, when West Indies limited overs batsman Royston Crandon joined Fudadin and with some audacious drives and pulls, they added 83 for the third wicket from a mere 7.1 overs.

The 24-year-old Fudadin who had struck Lall through extra cover for four during his partnership with Hicks, was a bystander at the other end when Crandon hit Navin Bahadur for three sixes, including an inside out shot over extra cover in the 28th over, which cost North Essequibo 23 runs.

Crandon also struck Uvindra Balgobin whose eight overs went for 64 runs back over his head for a six, before he was run-out by wicketkeeper Abdool Salim, when his attempt to take a cheeky single to cover failed for a well-played 44, which took 38 balls to compile and was decorated with four sixes.

His elder brother and skipper of RHTWSB Esaun Crandon (28) strode to the wicket to join Fudadin who posted his 50 with a six over backward square leg off Balgobin from the 67th delivery he had faced and they added a further 67 from 7.3 overs before a collapse took place for the visiting team.

Esaun Crandon struck Stephney back over his head twice for a six and four off successive deliveries, before he was caught and bowled by Punraj Singh in the 37th over, a dismissal which saw three wickets  including Fudadin’s, falling in the following over.

Jason Sinclair (0) was caught by Lall off Persaud from the first ball and when Fudadin lost his leg stump to Lall two deliveries later, followed by the wicket of Ravi Narine (0) who went via run-out, RHTWSB moved from 234-4 to 238-7.

All told, Fudadin faced 87 balls and struck five sixes and three fours in his 88 and resilient batting from Eon Hooper and Khemraj Mahadeo who were unbeaten on seven and five respectively, saw them to 249-7 from their 40 overs, even though Persaud ended with 2-25 from four overs.

When North Essequibo, who defeated South Essequibo in the Essequibo zone finals began their reply, they got a rousing start from openers Navin Singh (14) and Salim (16) who posted 22 for the first wicket from 6.4 overs.

Singh batted like a batsman possessed, treating national fast bowler Esaun Crandon with little respect, when he pulled him through midwicket and backward square leg for four, followed by another which was exquisitely struck through extra cover off Batson.

He lost the battle when Esaun Crandon had him caught by Michael Cummings at mid off from a delivery which slowed up on him after hitting the track, after he was struck for the second four in the seventh over.

Salim and Bahadur added 16 for the second wicket, before the former, who struck Batson for two fours through extra cover and forward square leg respectively, holed out to Eon Hooper in the deep cover position off Cummings which left North Essequibo on 38-2 in the 11th over.

Bahadur got into the act by hitting Narine over midwicket for six, much to the delight of his teammates while new batsman Lall, displayed his ability to hit the ball over the top, with a maximum over midwicket and a four from successive deliveries off Cummings.

Lall attempted to bite off more than he could chew from the bowling of Narine and was caught by Mahadeo on the cover boundary when he attempted to hit the same bowler out of the ground, leaving his team on 81-3 in the 18th over.

Bahadur continued to soldier on for his side who were looking to record an upset victory over their more illustrious opponents, with a six over midwicket off Narine who had him caught by Sinclair on the deep midwicket boundary for a fighting 45 made off 47 balls and included two fours and an equal number of sixes.

Apart from Stephney who struck one four and a six in his 22 before he was stumped by Hicks off Cummings and Suraj Sookdeo who made 16, no other batsman from the Cinderella County team reached double figures, as RHTWSB marched on to face their counterparts Albion Sports Club in the final next Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, in a day/night fixture.