GUYANA and West Indies middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul churned in an all-round performance which steered his adopted side Enterprise Busta Sports Club to a convincing eight-wicket victory over New Line Cavaliers (NLC) in the final of the EBSC 15/15 fundraising festival last Saturday.
Being asked to take first strike, NLC were limited to 113-9 from their 15 overs, with Orin Forde 55 (4×4, 2×6), Andre Percival 16 (2×4) and Richard Ramdeen 15 (2×4) being the principal scorers against the bowling of Chanderpaul who grabbed 3-23 and R. Pooran 3-22.
EBSC replied with 117-2 from 13.5 overs, thanks to Chanderpaul’s robust unbeaten 74 which was decorated with seven fours and one maximum, Troy Gonsalves’ 21 (2×4, 1×6) and Leon Johnson’s unbeaten 17 (1×4, 1×6), while Chien Gittens took 1-19 for NLC.
Earlier in the day, EBSC defeated Unity by 10 wickets in their virtual semi-final encounter, while NLC destroyed Enmore by 96 runs, thanks to an aggressive batting display from skipper Gajanand Singh and Andrew Lyght Jr.
In the EBSC/Unity matchup, Unity took first strike and were held to 102-7 from their 15 overs, to which EBSC replied with 103 without loss, thanks to the batting of Troy Gonsalves who smashed five sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 63 and Wasim Haslim whose 40 included five fours and two maximums.
NLC were asked to bat first in their match against Enmore and scored 167-3 from their 15 overs, with Singh hitting 11 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 84 and Lyght Jr five fours and four sixes in his 47, before Percival who made an unbeaten 23 (1×4), added an unbroken 77-run fourth-wicket partnership with Singh.
Y. Dyal took 2-25 for Unity who were held to 71-6 from their 15 overs in reply, with P. Ramkellawan (13), Chanderpaul 12 (2×4) and D. Peters 11 being the principal scorers against the bowling of Balram Samaroo who took 2-11 for NLC.
While no cash prizes were up for grabs, EBSC did receive the winner’s trophy leaving NLC to settle for the runner-up silverware. Chanderpaul also received two trophies after being adjudged the best batsman and the man-of-the-match in the final.