A ROBUST 67 from former national opener Krishna Arjune steered Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) into the final of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)-organised, Digicel-sponsored Twenty20 competition, when they defeated Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) by seven wickets at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ground yesterday. GNIC won the toss and invited their opponents to take first strike and reduced them to 148-6 thanks to the bowling of Rawle Merrell who grabbed 3-22 including the prized wicket of West Indies middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan who failed to trouble the scorers, while Leon Johnson made an unbeaten 49.
When GNIC batted, Arjune displayed a no-nonsense attitude, hitting five sixes and three fours in his innings and, along with Rayon Griffith’s unbeaten 21 which included one four and a six off the final delivery of the match, they reached 152-3 from their 20 overs to earn the right to face Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) in the final which is to be played soon.
Despite starting the match with two wides, Merrell kept his nerves to dislodge Wasim Haslim 23 (3×4; 1×6), Ricardo Jadunauth 15 (1×4) and Sarwan, taking all three wickets in his final over, as GCC were shakily placed on 41-3 in the seventh over of their innings.
Johnson joined Vishal Singh 10 (1×4) and they took the fight back to the Woolford Avenue-based GNIC club, whose lineup included West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) chairman of selectors Clyde Butts, with Singh driving a free hit from Griffith between extra cover and mid on for four before he was stumped by Dexter Solomon off Collis Butts to leave GCC on 61-4.
Johnson soldiered on for his team when he struck Arjune and Shawn de Souza for six over mid-wicket, while Ravi Sarwan 18 (1×4) who injured his knee in the dying stages of GNIC’s innings, pulled Ranole Bourne (1-18) for four before he was bowled by the same bowler in his next over.
Thanks to some boisterous hitting by Joshua Wade (15 not out) who struck Collis Butts for six over wide long on, followed by back-to-back fours from the final two deliveries of GCC’s innings which was bowled by Clyde Butts, GCC reached their final score of 148-6.
Collis Butts (2-30) and Bourne offered support to Merrell in the bowling department for GNIC, whose innings got a fine start, with Arjune and Quincy Ovid- Richardson 19 (3×4) posting 46 from the first nine overs, with the latter hitting Wade for back-to-back boundaries.
Arjune refused to be left out of the boundary-hitting act, when he struck Gavin Singh over wide long-on and long-off for back-to-back fours, before he lost Ovid-Richardson who was bowled by Raj Nanan as he backed away to cut a delivery.
Arjune emulated Johnson, when he pulled Jadunauth to wide long on for four and a six which was struck with authority in the same position two balls later and when Johnson introduced himself into the attack, he too was dispatched over the boundary twice by Arjune, with the second six bringing up his 50.
The 30-year-old Arjune, who last represented Guyana in the WICB 2009 President’s Cup match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), did not stop there as he pulled Jadunauth over midwicket for another one of his five sixes, before he holed out to Vishal Singh at deep cover off Johnson.
At 123-3 in the 18th over, GCC must have commenced planning their strategy for the Queenstown-based DCC team who defeated Everest Cricket Club in their semifinal match last week Saturday, but Griffith who joined De Souza had other ideas.
The lanky Griffith who was a member of the victorious 2006 Stanford 20/20 team, struggled to get the ball away early in his innings, but managed to pick up the ones and twos and with three runs to get off the last ball bowled by Johnson, he pulled the short delivery over square leg for six to spark off celebrations among his teammates in the pavilion.
Griffith was unbeaten on 21 which was decorated with the last-ball six and a four, while De Souza struck one four in his unbeaten 11 as GNIC reached 152-3 and the right to face DCC in the final which is scheduled to be played this weekend at the DCC ground.