Written By Calvin Roberts
ACTION In the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) organised Ansa McAl’s Carib Beer sponsored first division T20 competition bowled off yesterday with both the Police Sports Club (PSC) and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) recording victories at the Eve Leary ground.At the Camp Road Everest Cricket Club ground, no play was possible in the two matches there, which would have seen defending champions Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) opposing Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) and the home team taking on Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC), as heavy overnight rain soaked parts of the playing area, leaving the pitch in an unplayable state.
However, play was possible at Eve Leary, which is just a stone’s throw away, with PSC taking on the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in the first match even though it was reduced to a 7 overs affair, while GCC and Transport Sports Club (TSC) contested a full 20 overs fixture later in the day.
In the first contest, GDF were asked to bat first by their hosts and thanks to Dillon Heyliger’s 35 (3×4, 2×6), posted 53 for 4 from their allotted overs, against the bowling of Trevor Benn who took 2 for 7.
Benn started GDF’s demise early, when he had Kevon Boodie (00) caught at the wicket off the second ball of the fixture and returned later to remove Randy Lindore, who was bowled for 7 after adding 29 for the second wicket with Dillon Heyliger, who had earlier struck his sibling Jason Heyliger for six.
Another six from Heyliger, this time back over the head of Seon Daniels in the fifth over, brought some life to the Army Boys batting lineup, before Steven Harris (03) was bowled leg stump by Daniels and Dillon Heyliger was stumped by wicketkeeper Rawle Browne off Yatesh Dhanpaul, from the final delivery of his team’s innings.
In reply, PSC lost their skipper Royan Fredericks who was caught by Jeremiah Harris off his brother Steven’s bowling for 9, Dhanpaul (02) and Browne for 19, which included two sixes before he holed out to Steven Harris off Heyliger with two runs needed for victory, which was later achieved by Sheldon Alexander 16 (1×6) and Benn as PSC reached 54 for 3 from 6.5 overs.
In the second game, GCC whose lineup included former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, opted to bat first on a track that was already showing signs of keeping low during PSC’s innings and posted 144 for 8 from their 20 overs.
Skipper Leon Johnson led their batting with 31 (3×4, 1×6), Vishal ‘Cheesy’ Singh made 25 (4×4), including back to back boundaries off Stephen Alves, Jeetendra Sookdeo 22 (3×4) and Robin Bacchus 17 (3×4) in support to Johnson.
Sarwan was dismssed for 7, caught at cover by a diving Sunil Singh after he tried to hit Azim Azeez (2 for 19) through that area, the first delivery after the water break, following which Alves tore into the GCC batting lineup to end with 4 for 20.
When TSC batted, the pace of Joshua Wade and Chidanan Shivram pegged them back early especially within the first eight overs, where they were allocated a mere 32 runs, before Quinn Proctor (18, 1×4) was caught by substitute Devon Lord off Bacchus (2 for 20).
Johnson introduced himself into the attack after 10 overs and bowled a tidy line and length against the Thomas Lands based TSC batsmen, who like the West Indies Under-19 during their seven match series against Bangladesh which finished one week ago, were at sea to the spinners.
Johnson ended with 2 for 9, while TSC ended their 20 overs at 94 for 7, with Charwayne McPherson 22 (1×6 off Bacchus) and Ryan Hemraj 13 being the lone batsmen to get into double figures along with Proctor, even as Azeez and young Keon Morris were unbeaten on 7 each when the innings was closed, with Morris hitting Raj Nannan (1 for 20) for six over midwicket.
According to unconfirmed reports, the DCC versus MSC matchup is scheduled to take place this Friday from 1330hrs, at the Queenstown based DCC, with explosive middle- order batsman Jonathan Foo set to wear the maroon and gold of DCC.