… J.C. Chandisingh and L’Aventure are School champions
HAVING overcome some stiff opposition in their respective semifinal encounters, The Pitbulls and Mike’s Wellwoman XI were crowned Kings and Queens of tapeball cricket in Guyana, when they walked away with the Kares Engineering and Bushy Park Sawmill-sponsored 10/10 titles at the Guyana National Stadium, Sunday night.
J. C Chandisingh and L’Aventure Secondary Schools were also victorious in the Schoolboys and Schoolgirls finals over St Rose’s High and IPE Divas respectively, but it was the lone male semifinal encounter between Pitbulls and Albion which brought the small but appreciative crowd to live.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first under the lights, Pitbulls reached 79 before they were dismissed off the final delivery of the 10th and final over, with newly selected West Indies T20 wicketkeeper batsman Derwin Christian top-scoring with 25.
He received support from West Indies T20 all-rounder Christopher Barnwell who made 18, while Lallbeharry Roopnarine (2-9), Hemendra Ramdhial (2-13) and Harrinarine Chattergoon, who took 2 for 14, led Albion’s bowling challenge.
With the team from the Ancient County displaying a powerful batting lineup that included discarded West Indies players Narsingh Deonarine and Sewnarine Chattergoon, along with national T20 middle order batsman Jonathan Foo, many felt Albion would have advanced to the final.
Instead, they were restricted to 63 for 6 by a disciplined Pitbulls bowling attack, with Foo hitting two sixes and one four in his team’s top score of 32 while Ramnarine Chattergoon, who added 46 for the second wicket with Foo following the dismissal of his brother Sewnarine (02), made 18.
Christian demonstrated to all present his economical bowling attitude with the ball by picking up two for 9 for the Pitbulls, who recorded a comfortable 16-run victory to advance to the final.
In the final which brought the curtain down on the tournament, Pitbulls won the toss against Invaders XI and as they did in the semifinal, took first strike.
They must have regretted doing so, as they lost Barnwell off the first delivery of the match, caught at the wicket by Lincoln Leander for a duck off Chris Sookram who ended with 2 for 11.
Some aggressive batting from Trevon Griffith who made 23 and Christian with 21, coupled with Suresh Boodhoo’s 14 and Robin Bacchus (13) guided the Pitbulls to 95 for 6 from their 10 overs.
Leander, Richard Baker and Khemraj Ramsundar ended with one wicket each for Invaders, who found the bowling of the eventual champions too hot to handle, as they were limited to 61 for 5 with Ramsundar being the lone batsman to reach double figures with 20.
Once again, Christian was among the wickets, this time ending with 2 for 3 while Barnwell and Paul Wintz picked up a wicket each for the champions who took $1M for their efforts, while Invaders were forced to settle for the runner-up cheque which was valued $500 000.
Mike’s Wellwoman defied the odds to advance to the final where they met and disposed of an unmatched Trophy Stall XI by 19 runs.
Winning the toss and batting first, Mike’s Wellwoman were bowled out for 72 of which Victoria Bacchus top-scored with 29 (4×4) while Onika Wallerson made 18 against the bowling of Kavita Yadram who took 3 for 10 along with Latoya Toney and Angela Waldron who supported her with two wickets each for 14 and 17 runs respectively.
When Trophy Stall XI batted, they were held to 53 for 9 with Monica Seales being their leading batter with 12 as Joann Van Sertima and Prudence Williams took two wickets each for 5 and 7 runs.
In the Women’s semifinals encounter, Trophy Stall XI and Mike’s Wellwoman advanced to the final which was played later in the day, after defeating 4R Lioness and Rose Hall Town Metro in their semifinal fixture which followed the School teams presentation.
Lashauna Toussaint and Extras top-scored with 19 each in 4R Lioness’ 65 for 6 against the bowling of Seales and Latoya Toney who took two wickets each for Trophy Stall XI.
Female West Indies wicketkeeper/batter June Ogle-Thomas who was unbeaten on 30 (2×4) and Yadram (17, 1×4) featured in an unbroken 48-run second-wicket partnership, following the demise of Heema Singh (7), as Trophy Stall reached 66 for 1 from 7.5 overs to advance to the final.
In the second semifinal featuring Mike’s Wellwoman and Rose Hall Town Metro, the former won the toss and opted to take first strike, with their skipper Abena Parker targeting a score between 140 and 150, while her opposite number Erva Giddings said 60 at the toss.
Mike’s Wellwoman slipped to 18 for 3 in the third over, after losing Onika Wallerson (0) who was dismissed off the first delivery of the innings, Katana Mentore (2) and Parker (5) against a disciplined Rose Hall Town Metro bowling attack.
Van Sertima 24 (1×4) and Bacchus (15) added 28 for the fourth wicket, before Bacchus was bowled by Tessa Parker (2-11) in the eighth over, following which her team reached 70 for 5 from their 10 overs, thanks Van Sertima and Erva Giddings (12, 1×4).
In their reply, Rose Hall Town Metro reached 66 for 6 from their 10 overs, with Trishanie Cort top-scoring with 18 that included two fours before she was run-out in the final over, which saw her team needing 15 runs to win, but only got 10.
Melanie Henry and Tessa Parks offered support with 16 and 11 respectively while Wallerson took 2 for 4 and Mentore 1 for 9 for Mike’s Wellwoman who shocked their opponents to advance to the final.
Earlier in the day, J.C. Chandisingh and L’Aventure Secondary were crowned the Schoolboys and Schoolgirls champion of the tournament which was solely sponsored by Kares Engineering and Bushy Park Sawmills and played nationwide.
They defeated St Rose’s High and IPE Divas in their respective final, to earn for their school $200 000 which will go towards a project, with J.C Chandisingh recording a comfortable six-wicket victory while L’Aventure won by a massive 78 runs.
In the Schoolgirls final, L’Aventure were asked to take first strike and said thank you by posting an imposing 115 for 1 from their 10 overs, with extras contributing a healthy 47 while Tishana Douglas, who added 99 for the second wicket with Satywattie Sugrim (17, 1×4), struck six fours in her unbeaten 44.
When IPE Divas began their reply, they lost a wicket in the first over and never recovered and were limited to 37 for 8 from their 10 overs, with extras contributing 20 of those runs while Mercedes Alfred took 3 for 5 for the victorious L’Aventure lineup.
St Rose’s were asked to take first strike by their counterparts from the Ancient County and were limited to 51 for 8 from their 10 overs, a far cry from the team which topped the Georgetown zone of the Schoolboys category.
Chaitram Nauth top-scored with 16 while David Mohammed and Yogeshwar Ramgobin scored 9 each with Ramgobin hitting two fours before he was run-out looking for a second run from a misfield.
Arif Chan, Imzam Ali Nizamuddin and Shailendra Shameer took two wickets each for J. C, Chandisingh who reached 52 for 4 from 6.4 overs in reply, thanks to Nizamuddin’s 13, with extras again among the runs with 21, even though Mohammed took 2 for 8 for his team.
Both Nizamuddin and Douglas were named players-of-the-final in their respective categories and received a trophy and one laptop to that effect.
Prior to the start of the day’s action, both Halim Khan and Radesh Rameshwar Executive Director of Kares Engineering and Bushy Park Sawmills urged the teams to give of their best not only for themselves, but also for their team.
Khan, in his capacity as president of the Guyana Softball League, urged the teams to observe the rules at all times, stating that the umpire’s decision is final in the game of cricket.
According to Rameshwar, today may be a big day for some, if not all of the players, in the tournament, which is being sponsored to the tune of $10M and which bowled off two months ago with a record entry of 942 teams.
“We are extremely delighted to be associated with this tournament this year and I must say that come next year, we will be sponsoring a bigger and better tournament where the prizes will be doubled in all categories, while the  man-of-the-series will be driving home a motor car.”
Meanwhile, the official presentation ceremony will take place later this week at a time and venue to be announced.