AFTER decades of going close to winning a Berbice-wide cricket championship, Blairmont defeated favourites Albion by four wickets to win the Elizabeth Styles Under-21 Tournament and in the process secured their first-ever Berbice-wide championship.

Playing as a united team and spearheaded by a brilliant all-round performance by Man-of-the-Final Kevon Jawahir, Blairmont completely outplayed a stunned Albion team at the Blairmont Community Centre to spark off joyous celebration among its supporters.
Batting first after winning the toss, Albion lost Balchan Baldeo lbw to medium pacer Devendra Prashad for 6, to be 9 for 1 in the third over but a solid second-wicket partnership of 59 between Kandasammy Surujnarine and Veerapen Permaul allowed Albion to recover to 68 for 1 before Surujnarine was bowled by Jawahir for 29 in the 12th over and, without addition to the score, Sharaz Ramcharran was trapped lbw by the same bowler, following which they quickly lost Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai 6, David Latchaya 0, Andy Mohan 0, Andrew Harripersaud 0 and Avinash Wajid 4 to find themselves in deep trouble at 92 for 9 in the 20th over.
The calm Permaul who made 53 (6×4) and Latchman Bishram 11 then added 35 crucial runs to take Albion to 127 before they were both dismissed in quick succession as Albion folded for 129 all out in 32 of their allotted 50 overs.
Jawahir bowled superbly to end with bowling figures of 8-1-22-5 and received support from left-arm spinner Waqar Hassan 7-1-23-3 and needing to score 130 runs from 50 overs, Blairmont suffered an early loss when opener C. Harrinarine was trapped lbw by Permaul for 5 at 9 for 1 in the fifth over.
However, skipper Devendra Prashad 37 (3×4), Parmanand Ramdhan 22, Dereck Narine Jnr 19 enabled them to reach 100 for 6 in the 33rd over before Jawahir 18 not out and Nick Ramsaroop 15 not out added 32 for the 7th wicket to lead them to victory.
Bowling for a visibly shocked and crestfallen Albion team, Permaul took 2 for 23 and leg-spinner Avinash Wajid 2 for 29.
At the presentation ceremony Berbice Cricket Board treasurer Anil Beharry hailed the historic Blairmont victory as a positive sign that the BCB’s efforts of assisting lower-ranked clubs were working and encouraged the victorious team to use this historic victory to aim for higher glory at all levels.
Chairman of the BCB’s Special Events Committee, Hilbert Foster, outlined the outstanding work of the Board for this year, boasting a record-breaking 160 activities/programmes and 25 cricket tournaments.
Foster expressed gratitude to the Management of Elizabeth Styles for investing in Berbice cricket, while the sponsor’s representative Bissoondyal Singh praised the BCB for organising a tournament of the highest standard and for promoting the Company’s brand in Berbice.
He encouraged the cricketers to maintain discipline at all times and then announced to great applause that the sponsorship would be renewed in 2013. Former BCB president Malcolm Peters delivered brief remarks while former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd met the teams during the lunch break.
Both teams and the umpires, along with Best Batsman Veerapen Permaul, Best Bowler and Man-of-the-Final Kevon Jawahir received Elizabeth Styles hampers. The champions received $50 000 and trophy, the runners-up $30 000 and Man-of-the-Final $5 000 and a trophy.