Deonarine man- of- the- match as
NLC beat GCC by 10 runs in final
LED by a man- of- the- match innings from West Indies middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine, favorites New Line Cavaliers (NLC) walked away with the Demerara Cricket Club’s (DCC) Big Easter Bash cricket tournament when they defeated Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) in the final at the DCC ground yesterday. Being asked to take first strike, NLC thanks to Deonarine’s robust 28 ball 54 which was decorated with five maximums and three fours, recovered from 8-2 in the first over to score 153 before they were bowled out in 14.5 of their 15 overs.
When GCC began their reply, they got a solid 46 runs opening partnership from Ramnaresh Sarwan (29) and Wasim Haslim (14) and even though Vishal Singh 943) and Leon Johnson (25) added 71 for the third wicket, GCC fell short of their target as Orin Forde grabbed four late wickets to reduce them to 143-7 from their 15 overs.
Having earlier defeated Everest Cricket Club by 41 runs in their semi final matchup, a confident looking NLC unit were asked to take first strike by their opponents and were immediately rocked by Antiguan based fast bowler Winston Nelson who sent back Andrew Lyght Jnr (00) and skipper Gajanand Singh (02) in the first over.
Guest player Deonarine joined his fellow Berbician and another guest player in former West Indies Under-19 opener Richard Ramdeen (42, 6×4; 1×6) and they took the attack to the Shiv Chanderpaul Drive based GCC team.
Deonarine ,was given a life by Nelson who grassed a skier at deep midwicket off Jeetendra Sookdeo when on five, and the batsman responded by hitting the bowler for two sixes over midwicket, while Ramdeen chipped in with the occasional boundary, as NLC posted their 50 from 5.2 overs.
NLC lost Ramdeen and Deonarine who had struck Ricardo Jadunauth for two maximums off successive deliveries to post his 50 from 27 deliveries, before he was caught and bowled by Jadunauth immediately after passing his 50.
A quick fire 21 from Paul Wintz which took the batsman 11 deliveries to compile with two fours and one six, carried NLC to their eventual total of 153 as Jadunauth (3-25), Ravi Sarwan (2-15) and Nelson (2-21) placed GCC in the driver’s seat after the first half of the match.
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Haslim helped maintained that position, with the former pulling fast bowler Chien Gittens through forward square and midwicket for 6, 4 and 4 off successive deliveries as GCC raced to 26 without loss after two overs.
Spin in the form of Gajanand Singh (1-23) pegged things back a bit for NLC as they removed both openers, but that only brought Vishal Singh and Johnson together and with the former using the reverse sweep to good effect, they maintained the stranglehold on their opponents.
The demise of Johnson who had earlier struck Wintz back over his head for six before he was caught on the deep midwicket boundary by Lyght Jnr off Forde (4-19), who also removed Singh, but not before the batsman had struck Deonarine’s first delivery over wide midwicket for six, left GCC on 119-4.
With batsmen in the caliber of Treon Forde, Ravi Sarwan and even the burly Tyrell Tull in the wings, GCC needed 24 from 12 balls, and after seeing Wintz knock back the off stump of Tull (09, 1×6) Forde who bowled the final over in which they needed 20 to win, removed both  Ravi Sarwan (04) and Gavin Singh (01) to steer his side to victory in near darkness.
Earlier in the day, GCC defeated host team DCC by 66 runs in their encounter, thanks to an all round effort from Johnson who having top scored with 31 (2×4, 2×6) in his team’s 121-5, of which Ramnaresh and Ravi Sarwan both made 28 and 20 not out respectively, returned to take 3-9 as DCC were routed for a meager 55 in 12.3 overs.
Kevin George who was struck for maximums by both Ramnaresh Sarwan and Haslim (08), took 2-25 for DCC, but only Denver Greaves (24, 3×4, 1×6) managed to get into double figures for the Queenstown based side when they reply, as Jeetendra Sookdeo supported Johnson with 2-11.
In the Everest/NLC matchup, Forde who plays for Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), struck a cameo unbeaten 64 for his adopted team from 33 balls with five fours and four maximums, while skipper Gajanand Singh 33 (2×4, 2×6) and Ramdeen 18 (3×4).
Singh and Forde had added 54 for the third wicket from 5.4 overs against the bowling of Amir Khan (2-20) and David Harper who took 2-31 for Everest who were limited to 101-9 in reply, despite skipper Abhilash Dhookie hitting a pugnacious 27 (3×4, 3×6) from 12 deliveries.
Dayanand Roopnarine who is being tagged the best Under-19 batsman in Demerara, offered support with 25 (2×4, 1×6) and along with Joseph Perry (21, 2×4) with whom he added 39 for the sixth wicket from 4.5 overs, tried desperately to carry Everest to their target.
Wintz (3-13), Deonarine (2-15) and Balram Samaroo 2-33 ensured they did not, as NLC carted off the match and at the end of the day, the $60,000 first prize and the beautiful Andrew Lyght Snr memorial trophy.
Deonarine received a trophy and $10,000 as his man- of- the match reward, while GCC had to settle for the second place prize of $30,000. Plaques were also presented to both Deonarine and Ramnaresh Sarwan for their participation in the match