Adams the enforcer as Police arrest DCC -To meet GCC in final

THANKS to an unbeaten 69 from Ricardo Adams, Police Sports Club were able to enforce their arrest warrant to the last punctuation mark at the Demerara Cricket Club ground yesterday, thus defeating the home team by five wickets in their Georgetown Cricket Association/Ansa McAl Carib Beer sponsored first division T20 competition.Responding to the 161 for 9 which was made by the home team on a slow track in hazy conditions, PSC, who were cheered on by a vociferous group of supporters, reached 162 for 5 from 17.5 overs, thanks to Adams’ 69 (40 balls, 6×4, 5×6).
Earlier in the day, Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) booked their place in the final, with a hard fought six wicket victory of their own over Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC), with national skipper Leon Johnson leading the way with an unbeaten 37 (35balls, 2×4, 2×6).
But it was the second semifinal between the lawmen and the home team, which set tongues wagging from as early as the warm up period, following which DCC under the astute captaincy of Christopher Barnwell won the toss and chose to bat first.
They smiled broadly at this decision, after seeing Trevon Griffith 29 (26balls, 2×4, 2×6) hitting the first ball from Trevor Benn over wide long on for four, but lost Jahron Byron (02) who was bowled by the same bowler four balls later at 7 for 1.
Denver Greaves 15 (1×4) joined Griffith and pushed the score to 40, before Greaves who watched on as Griffith got added boundaries off Randolph Knights, including a six over long on, was stumped off Adams by Rawle Browne.
A sedate looking Barnwell joined Griffith and pushed the score to 52 before Griffith was caught by Norwayne Fredericks at mid off, when he looked to hit Seon Daniels (2 for 35) over that area, enabling Barnwell and Dennis Squires to add 52 for the fourth wicket.
While Barnwell was content to be patient on the slow track, Squires displayed a no nonsense attitude, hitting Jason Heyliger over midwicket for six, followed by another back over the head of Kelvin Leitch, with Troy Benn and Daniels also going for sixes off the bat of Squires and Barnwell.
In his haste to up the scoring, Squires was caught by Leitch at point, but the damage was already done as he scored 37 of the 52 runs he added with Barnwell off 15 balls, counting three fours and the same number of sixes.
DCC slipped from 104 for 3 to 125 for 5, as Wintz followed Squires back into the pavilion, before a quick fire 14 (6 balls, 2×6) from Andre Stoll coupled with some lusty hitting from Barnwell who departed for 42 (35balls, 3×4, 2×6) steered them to 161 for 8 from their 20 overs.
Adams, Daniels and Heyliger finished with two wickets each for 8, 35 and 39 runs respectively for PSC who in reply lost two quick wickets, that of Browne and Yatesh Dhanpaul who both made 01, to be 16 for 2 in the 4th over, as DCC opened with an all spin attack in the caliber of Squires and Kevin George.
Enter Adams to partner Fredericks 19 (21 balls, 3×4), who had earlier driven George for four through extra cover and they pushed the score to 42, before Fredericks was bowled by Stoll, at which point Troy Benn joined Adams to add 53 for the fourth wicket.
Benn cut loose by hitting Barnwell for four, while Adams hoisted the DCC skipper for a six over long on, which was followed by another massive six back over the head of Griffith, forcing the umpires to replace the ball which landed on the roof of a neighbouring building on Crown Street, in the process.
The elder Benn was caught by Wintz at long on off Stoll at 95 for 4, enabling Heyliger to push the score to 133 with Adams, who posted his 50 from 31 balls, counting five fours and three sixes in the process, following which Heyliger picked out Wintz at deep midwicket off Griffith.
That wicket fell at 133 for 5 in the 16th over, with police needing 29 more to seal the win, a score they achieved two overs later, as Adams watched from the non-strikers end to see Jermaine Reynolds hit Stoll (2 for 34) for two fours to seal the contest.
Earlier in the day, GNIC won the toss and chose to bat first against GCC, with Assad Fudadin and Marc Nicholson posting 32 for the first wicket, before Fudadin 11 (2×4) pushed one back to Bernard Bailey (3 for 18).
Ranole Bourne, who topscored with 38 (31balls, 5×4) and Nicholson pushed the score to 56, before GNIC lost Nicholson 20 (3×4), while Ejaz Mohammed and Dexter Solomon were sent back off successive deliveries from Bailey without scoring to leave the opposition on 67 for 4.
It was pushed to 99 by Rayon Griffith and Bourne, at which point the latter was bowled by Robin Bacchus, while Griffith was run out by a direct hit from Khemraj Jaikarran, before Johnson who ended with 2 for 12 and Chidanan Shivram (2 for 24) wrapped up the innings for 129.
In their reply, GCC got a 53 runs first wicket partnership from Bacchus and Martin Pestano-Belle, with Bacchus hitting seven fours and a six back over the head of Clyde Butts in his 25 balls 37, before he was stumped by Solomon off the wily Butts.
Pestano-Belle 23 (2×4) followed next at 86 for 2 lbw to Fudadin who later removed Ellon Fernandes (06) at 104 for 3, enabling Johnson and Gavin Singh 15 to push the score to 125, before Singh was caught by Mohammed off the first delivery of the final over, which began with GCC needing 7 to win.
However, Johnson, who had earlier struck both Collis Butts and Leroy Bristol for sixes, was given a waist high full toss from Royston Simon, with the ball eluding Solomon on its way to the boundary to seal the win for GCC.
Fudadin ended with 2 for 17 for GNIC, whose fielding display was ragged and left much to be desired, with Alistair Ifill grassing two opportunities offered from Bacchus and Johnson off Collis Butts and Bristol respectively, while several mis-fields from the same fielder saw the ball ending up in the boundary.

(By Calvin Roberts)

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