… Deokie hits ton, Johnson chalks up back to back 50s
FRONTRUNNERS Everest Cricket Club (ECC) and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) recorded back-to-back victories yesterday to advance to the final four of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)-organised, Digicel-sponsored first division Twenty20 competition.
Skipper Abhilash Deokie struck an unbeaten ton as ECC defeated both Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) while GCC’s skipper Leon Johnson had back-to-back fifties as GCC defeated Police Sports Club (PSC) and Demerara Cricket Club (DCC).
In their first match of the day at the MSC ground on Thomas Lands, ECC defeated the home team by 67 runs, thanks to Deokie’s solid all-round performance.
First he made an unbeaten 101 off 54 deliveries with 10 sixes and three fours and, along with Troy Gonsalves’ unbeaten 44-ball 61 (4×6, 4×6), Ryan Ramdass’s 31 and Dayanand Roopnarine’s 27, took ECC to a formidable 236-3 from their 20 overs.
MSC in reply were bowled out for 169 with Damian Van Tull leading the way with 62 which was decorated with six sixes and four fours, while Neil Barry, Orin Forde and Danny Narayan chipped in with 28, 22 and 21 respectively as Deokie returned to scalp 4-25.
Rakesh Goberdhan (3-31) and Gonsalves 2-39 offered support to their skipper who was not called upon to bat in their second game of the day against GDF at Camp Ayanganna.
GDF batted first and were held to 104-9 from their 20 overs, with Trevon Garraway 32 and Terry Fraser 11 being the lone batsmen to reach double figures against the bowling of Amir Khan, Goberdhan and Gonsalves who took two wickets each for 16, 22 and 29 runs respectively.
Christopher Patadin and Ramdass then steered their team to 105 without loss from 8.4 overs, with Patadin contributing 62 (6×4, 5×6) and Ramdass 28 (5×4).
At the PSC ground, the home team was bowled out for 155 by GCC with Balbinder Shivpersaud leading the way with 64 (3×6, 2×4) while Rowel Browne struck four fours and one six in his 30, and national Under-19 fast bowler Andre Stoll three sixes in his 21 in support to Shivpersaud, as wicketkeeper Tyrell Tull was involved in a historic seven dismissals, including four stumpings.
Johnson took 4-17, Winston Nelson 3-31 and Ravi Sarwan 2-27 for GCC who on the back of Vishal Singh’s 54 (4×4, 1×6), Johnson’s unbeaten 52 (3×6, 2×4) and Wasim Haslim’s 26 (6×4), reached 156-5 from 19.3 overs, even though Jason Heyliger and Trevor Benn took two wickets each for 13 and 26 runs respectively.
In their second game of the day, GCC mauled DCC by a massive 156 runs at the DCC ground.
Batting first, GCC reached 182-9 from their 20 overs with  Johnson leading the way with 60, his second half-century of the day, which was decorated with four fours and three maximums, while Ricardo Jadunauth 32 (4×4), Ravi Sarwan 26 (2×4, 1×6) and Vishal Singh 21* (3×4) offered support.
Former national Under-15 leg-spinner Omesh Danram led DCC’s bowling with 3-22 and received support from former national off-spinner Gavin Nedd (2-23), Jason Bishop (2-40) and David Mohammed 2-41.
Only Danram with 21 managed to reach double figures as DCC folded for a miserable 39 from 14.4 overs in reply, as Johnson and Jadunauth took three wickets each for 4 and 6 runs respectively, while Ravi Sarwan took 2-6.
In their first match of the day, DCC scraped home against TSC by two runs at the DCC ground after making 135 from 19.5 overs with Kevin George leading the way with 47 (5×6, 1×4), Jahron Byron 22 (1×6) and  Andrew Lyght Jr 20 (2×4).
Kevin Ross took 4-33 for TSC who were bowled out for 133 with Stephen Alves hitting three maximums in his 31 while Azim Azeez and Dwayne Graham both made 22, with the latter hitting two sixes and one four.
Shafeik Ishmael contributed 18 decorated with two sixes, but it was not enough to see his team home against the bowling of Dennis Squires and Totaram Bishun who took two wickets each for 23 and 33 runs respectively.
TSC rebounded to defeat PSC in their second match which went down to a ‘Super Over’ contest at the PSC, Eve Leary ground.
Batting first, PSC were bowled out for 174 with Rawle Browne contributing a 31-ball 53 (3×6, 3×4), Stoll an even 50 which took him 37 balls to compile and included four fours and two sixes, and Trevor Benn 36 made off 27 balls with three fours and a similar number of sixes.
Ross took 4-24 while Shawn Massiah had 2-7 for TSC who were bowled out for 174 in reply with Graham contributing 49 (3×6, 3×4), Azeez 32 (2×6) and Carl Rambharose 31 (3×4, 1×6) against the bowling of Vishal Jaigobin, Trevor Benn and Randolph Knights who took two wickets each for 30, 42 and 24 runs respectively.
In the ‘Super Over’ contest, arguably the first of its kind being contested on the local scene, TSC who were forced to contend with the left-arm swing of Stoll in dusky conditions, were bowled out for 7, to which Massiah restricted PSC for 5, despite being hit for a boundary by Trevor Benn.