THE ALREADY large Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club trophy collection got another addition when their Bakewell-sponsored Under-17 team defeated Albion Cricket Club by 74 runs to successfully defend their Berbice Cricket Board/Memorex/Leslie Amsterdam Memorial Under-17 Title at the Area “H” ground last Friday.
The final, which was played over two days, saw several outstanding performances from several players, namely Devin Baldeo, Shailendra Shameer and Arif Chan from the defending champions’ lineup.
Albion won the toss and to the surprise of everyone, invited their opponents to take first strike on a wicket noted to take spin as matches progressed to the latter stage, to which RHT Bakewell scored 137 in their first innings, thanks to Baldeo’s unbeaten 49 which included eight fours.
Baldeo shared a valuable 52-run ninth-wicket partnership with Joshua Holder (16), coming together with their team struggling at 82 for 8.
Brandon Prashad (16), Daniel Lewis (18), Vienna Gooniah (11) and Shailendra Shameer (10) were the other batsmen from RHT Bakewell to reach double figures, as Sharaz Ramcharran 5 for 46 from 23 overs and David Latchaya 3 for 36 from 23 overs bowled well for Albion.
Albion in reply reached 105 for 9. The innings closed with national Under-19 player Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai failing to take the crease, due to his presence with the Guyana team that was still in Barbados awaiting the outcome of the final round of matches in the Regional Under-19 limited overs tournament.
Latchaya returned with the bat to score an unbeaten 34 and received support from Balchan Baldeo 18 and L. Bishram 17, while Shameer claimed 5 for 30 runs from 15 overs of off-spin and his spin-twin Arif Chan, 3 for 17.
Batting a second time with a first-innings lead of 32 runs, RHT Bakewell reached 135 all out with the impressive Baldeo again topscoring with 37 while Daniel Lewis 16, Vienna Gooniah 24 and Dimitri Cameron 19 offered good support.
Latchaya bowled well to claim 3 for 60, Ramcharran 3 for 40 and Balchan Baldeo 2 for 9, while Motie-Kanhai was unable to bowl, due to his absence on the first day of play.
Set to score the highest total of the match, 168 runs in 3 hours of play to record a come-from-behind win, Albion found the off-spin bowling of Shameer and Chan too difficult to handle on a turning pitch and crumbled for 94 in 37 overs.
Batting at number seven, Motie-Kanhai led his team’s batting the second time around with a responsible 35 before he was dismissed. He received support from Latchaya who made an attacking 28 and Baldeo who chipped in with 15. Shameer finished with 5 for 25 (match figures of 10 for 55) while Chan claimed 4 for 29 runs.
At the presentation ceremony BCB secretary Angela Haniff expressed gratitude to Tony Amerally and the management of Memorex for their sponsorship of the tournament and for investing in the development of new talents in the ancient county.
She congratulated both teams for their display of discipline, dedication and high standard of cricket. Devin Baldeo was named Man-of-the-Final for his valuable innings of 49 not out and 37 and received $10 000 and a trophy.
Albion carried home the runner-up prize of $25 000 while the champions received $40 000 and the winning trophy. Both Shameer and RHTYSC Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster both dedicated the championship victory to Bakewell Chairman Mr Naem Nasir and General Manager Rajendra Ganga.