THANKS to some incisive fast bowling from Kemo Paul, defending champions Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ‘A’ team managed to retain their Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)-organised Brain Street Under-15 title with an authoritative 155-run victory over Transport Sports Club (TSC) at the Gandhi Youth Organisation (GYO) ground yesterday.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the defending champions who, with the win completed the double-double after they retained the League title of the tournament, scored 249 for 5 from their 50 overs and bowling out their opponents for 94 from 26.5 overs, thanks to Paul’s 6 for 29.
When DCC batted, their skipper Tevin Imloch, who topscored with 73 (115 balls, 5×4, 5×6) and Nomechandra Persaud (23, 2×4) added 65 for the first wicket from 17.2 overs, before they slipped to  90 for 3 within 10 overs, losing Paul (0) and Travis Persaud (12) in the process.
Imloch, who brought up his half-century from 86 deliveries with three sixes and a similar number of fours, and Clitus Johnson who made 62 off 55 deliveries with four fours and three sixes, added 86 for the fourth wicket from 15.2 overs.
During their partnership, Johnson brought up his half-century from 48 deliveries, counting three fours and two sixes in the process, before he saw the demise of Imloch who was caught at deep sqaureleg by Shemroy Kendall off the bowling of his opposite number, Joshua Ram.
Two overs later and Johnson, who was looking to up his team’s scoring rate, failed to get his bat down in time from an Ewart Samuels (1-36) delivery which kept low, before some lust hitting from Keanu Harry who was unbeaten on 36 (3×6, 2×4), guided DCC ‘A’ to their eventual total.
The late arrival of the lunch forced the umpires and players to take the field after a 10 minutes break, which saw TSC lose the important wicket of Ram, who was caught by Imloch at slip off the second delivery of his team’s innings from Paul.
The fiery fast bowlers followed it up with the wicket of Kevin Marks 11 (2×4), who was forced to pull a short delivery to Johnson on the backward sqaureleg fence, at which point the umpires called a halt to the proceedings, following the arrival of the lunch with TSC on 35 for 2 from 6.2 overs.
When play resumed, they slipped to 49 for 4, losing the wickets of Reon Sumair (17) and Samuels (4), who were both dismissed by Paul, before Joshua Wilson who struck two fours in his 13, chanced his arm to push the score to 74 for 8.
With former Guyana and West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, who celebrated his 68th birthday yesterday, and president of the GCA Roger Harper witnessing the proceedings, Imloch introduced Deron Crandon into the attack and the lively medium pace bowler offered tremendous support to Paul, by taking 3 for 12.
DCC ‘A’ exhibited lots of patience in their march to victory and duly got same, which enabled them to complete the double-double, when Paul was reintroduced into the attack to wrap up TSC’s innings, which he did with the greatest of ease.
At the brief presentation ceremony that followed, both Harper and Lloyd applauded the victorious team for their superb showing, while urging TSC and the other teams which participated in the tournament, to strive for a better placing next year.
Presentation of prizes was done for both the League and Cup format of the competition, with Bel Air Texaco’s Akshay Persaud receiving a trophy for the Best Bowling performance, following his 7 for 39 against TSC.
GYO’s Dwayne Debarros won the Batsman with the Highest Score award, following his 118 against Malteenoes Sports Club, while Queen’s College player Shameer Khan who took 24 wickets and GYO’s Bhaskar Yadram 316 runs earned them the Best Bowler and Batsman trophies respectively.
Thakur Pooran took seven catches and won for himself the Best Fielder award, while national Under-15 player Sherfane Rutherford, who plays for Everest Cricket Club, won the League’s Most Valuable Player trophy for his 308 runs, 17 wickets –  with a best of 5 for 19 – and 3 catches, complemented by a run-out.
GYO received a trophy, 15 medallions and $35 000 for their second-place finish in the League competition, while DCC ‘A’ received a trophy, 15 medallions and $50 000 as the victors of that stage of the competition.
In the Cup stage of the tournament, Imloch was adjudged the Best Batsman of the Final, Paul the Best Bowler and Johnson the Best Fielder, for which they all received trophies, while Paul received a trophy for his Man-of-the-Match efforts.
Both DCC ‘A’ and TSC received a trophy, 15 medallions and a cheque for $50 000 and $35 000 respectively, for their top two placing in the Cup stage of the competition which was hailed as a success by vice-president of the GCA, Neil Barry.