RHTGG reaches semis
A YOUTHFUL Rose Hall Town Gizmos & Gadget (RHTGG) team, missing five of their senior players, crushed Skeldon Community Centre by 126 runs to reach the semifinals of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB)/Ramcharitar Construction 40 overs first division tournament last Saturday.
Six matches were played on the opening day of the tournament, which saw Edinburgh, Rose Hall Canje, Police, Scottsburg and Port Mourant joining the defending Berbice 40 overs champions in the winners’ row.
Last year’s 40-overs runners-up Young Warriors were upset by Port Mourant while newcomers Edinburgh continued their impressive play by squeezing past West Berbice at home in their encounter.
At the Area ‘H’ ground, RHTGG, batting first after they won the toss and scored 180 for 7 off the allotted 37 overs, 17-year-old Clinton Pestano top-scoring with 38 (7×4), while Jason Sinclair 31 (2×6) and skipper Eon Hooper 30 offered support.
Bowling for the visitors, off-spinner Wazeer Hussain took 2 for 26 and Pertab Narine 2 for 43 who, in reply, were blasted away by former Berbice fast bowler Eon Gibson who had an impressive return to the game after a five-year absence, when he took 6-22 as Skeldon were bowled out for a paltry 54, with extras top-scoring with 23.
Pestano shared the new ball with Gibson and took 2 for 27 while Hooper took 2-0 with his off-spinners as RHTGG, who drew a bye in the second round, advanced into the semi-finals.
At the Albion Ground, Rose Hall Canje defeated Blairmont by seven wickets. Batting first Blairmont amassed 179 for 8 off 36 overs with Ramesh Budram 78 (8×4, 1×6) and Suresh Mohan 54 (4×4) being the principal scorers.
Off-spinners Sasenarine Sukhdeo 3 for 13 and Romesh Munna 3 for 49 were the main wicket-takers for Canje who in reply reached 180 for 3 in 26 overs with Sukhdeo returning to blast 76 (6×4, 1×6) and Vishal Mohabir 75 (11×4) while 17-year-old Videsh Singh was on 21 not out when victory was achieved.
At the Scottsburg Ground in Corriverton, the home team defeated Bermine by 6 wickets in a match reduced to 25 overs due to heavy rain.
Bermine were bowled out for 91 in 24.5 overs with Andrew Williams and Trison Bynoe scoring 18 runs each. Former Essequibo left-arm orthodox spinner Robert Moore and Clavern Beresford, with 3-19 and 2-15 respectively, did the damage for Scottsburg who raced to 95-4 in 18 overs, with national Under-19 wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble making an unbeaten 45 and Michael Kendall 15. Off-spinner Jamal La Fleur took 2 for 17 off 2 overs for Bermine.
Edinburgh upset West Berbice by three wickets at the Edinburgh ground, as West Berbice who chose to bat first scored 200 for 9 off their allotted 40 overs with Raffel Estriado 37 and Trevon Adams 34 being the main scorers.
Off-spinners Raid Ally (3-17) and Charles Shepherd (3-35) did the damage for the home team who batted strongly to reach 176 for 7 off 34 overs, having been set a reduced target of 175 from 35 overs, due to rain during lunch break.
Shameer Khan 44, Denny David 33 not out and Robin Seebarran 37 batted well for the home team against the bowling of Ron Johnson who took 3-27 for West Berbice, albeit in a losing cause.
At the Kennard Memorial Cricket Ground, Police defeated the home team by seven wickets in their match-up.
Batting first, KMCC scored 136 in 30.2 overs with Parmanand Seenanan 24 and Hemraj Mankarran 23 being the principal scores against the bowling of Rocky Hutson (3-22) and Karl Peters who took 2-25 for the lawmen.
When Police batted, Cyrus Gibson made 52 while Jerry Heyliger struck an unbeaten 42 as the victors reached 137-3 from 30 overs to complete a comfortable seven-wicket victory while at the same time, earned themselves a place in the second round.
Last year runners-up Young Warriors, playing at home in Cumberland, scored 201-9 in 40 overs with national Under-19 player Seon Hetmyer contributing 67 (6×4, 1×6), Balram Samaroo 32 (2×4, 2×6) and the hard-hitting Farouk Hussain 22.
Off-spinner Rajendra Bolo who opened the bowling took 2 for 22 off 8 overs, Homchand Pooran 2 for 26 and Steven Latcha 2 for 49 for Port Mourant who were set a reduced target of 167 from 33 overs thanks to rain and reached 169-2 from 29.5 overs, with Moshan Peerkhan making 79.