THE SIGHT of Clayton Lambert taking catches with not much bother, Shivnarine Chanderpaul easing Arjune Nadu back over his head for six and Sunil Dhaniram working Reon King off his legs for a maximum over midwicket, were all part of last night’s Guyana Festival T20 clash between a President’s XI and Master’s XI at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.

But when the dust was settled and the proceedings came to a halt, it was the Ramnaresh Sarwan led President’s XI who came away with the win, as they defeated the Lambert led Master’s XI by 40 runs in the specially organised encounter that was held as part of the Guyana Festival activities.
Batting first in the day/ night fixture, after His Excellency President Donald Ramotar bowled the first delivery, President’s XI on the back of Azeemul Haniff’s 39 (4×4, 1×6), 24 from Sarwan and 22 from Assad Fudadin, coasted to 135 for 8.
National leg spinner Amir Khan took 4 for 6 for the Master’s XI, who never made a match out of the their target, despite 22 from Bacchus and 15 each from Dhaniram and Deryck Kallicharran to end the game on 95 for 7, with Sarwan and Fudadin picking up two wickets each, while Chanderpaul conceded a mere two runs from his 2 overs.
Haniff rolled back the years after seeing Sewnarine Chattergoon being brilliantly caught by Lambert at slip off the fiery Kevin Darlington, at 4 for 1, with three fours off former Guyana and West Indies fast bowler Colin Stuart (0 for 15).
He took the score to 72 for 2 with Fudadin, who was asked to retire when on 22 to permit Sarwan and company to have a knock in the middle and what a knock it was for Sarwan, whose innings was filled with deft strokes and wristy flicks.
The 39 year old Chanderpaul, who celebrates his 40th birthday this Saturday, also went into over-drive, when he went down the wicket to Nandu and hit him back over his head for six, much to the delight of the spectators who clapped, squealed and used their noise makers to good effect, in appreciation of the shot from the dependable West Indies left hander.
A good catch by Clyde Butts at short mid-on, accounted for Chanderpaul off Khan who also saw Lambert displaying his agility with a well-judged catch on the deep midwicket boundary, to dismiss Sarwan, who was beginning to look dangerous, off Khan.
In the Master’s reply, many of the spectators who never saw the likes of Dhaniram, Bacchus or even Deryck Kallicharran during their golden days for Guyana, had the opportunity to witness them in action last night and certainly, the ‘Old Boys’ did not disappoint.
King strayed on Dhaniram’s pads and was whipped over midwicket for six, Kallicharran showed he is no rabbit with the bat, with a six and four in his innings, while a Bacchus square cut off Rayon Griffith, reached the boundary with such haste, that the bowler hardly knew what struck him.
However, the task of scoring at nearly 7 runs an over proved to be a tall order for a group of players who in their heyday would have walked with their lunch baskets to the middle and scored the runs with the greatest of ease, as they fell short to hand the President’s XI the win in a much appreciated game.
At the presentation ceremony which followed, Minister of Tourism (ag) Irfaan Ali congratulated both sides for the wonderful show they put on, saying that it made the Guyana Festival the success story it was meant to be, before he handed over the championship trophy donated by Trophy Stall to Sarwan, following which players from both sides posed for a memorable photo opportunity.

(By Calvin Roberts)