IN front of a vociferous crowd, Imam Bacchus Sports Club emerged winners of the DOUBLE ‘D’ and MALL T20 finals played at the Walton Hall ground , last Saturday .
It was their experience and composure that made the difference during several tense periods in the game. Winning the toss and batting first, Bacchus’s XI were given a solid start by their openers who scored 38 in 6 overs before the first wicket fell.
It was the breakthrough that Walton Hall needed as their bowlers began to make regular in-roads and finally restricted Imam Bacchus’ imposing batting line-up.
In reply,Walton Hall quickly lost their three former national youth batsmen,Nathan Persaud who top- scored with 23,Latchman Rohit for 08 and Yogeshwar Lall for 17,all in quick succession and were eventually all out for 113 in 19 overs.
On a turning pitch,which proved difficult for strokeplay,off spinner Uvindra Balgobin 3-12 (4 overs) and left arm spinner Navin Bahadur 2-23 (4 overs) exploited the conditions to good effect.
When the host began their run chase the intention was to be aggressive.Regular boundaries within the first six overs saw Walton Hall racing to 48-2. However,when the restrictions ended and with the introduction of spin, the match swung in Imam Bacchus’ favour.
The limitations of the remaining batsmen were exposed as they attempted to clear the boundary in desperation.In so doing they lost their most accomplished batsmen including Vishwanauth Lall(4), Nanin Bahadur(8) and Navindra Balgobin(2) within five overs as Walton Hall struggled to 67-5 in 11 overs at one stage.
However,despite an entertaining knock by Uvindra Balgobin 28 (2×6 and 2×4) during the latter stages of the innings which proved futile,the host lost their last five wickets for 30 runs and in the process were all-out for 97 in the 20th over, losing by 16 runs.
The left arm spin of Yogeshwar Lall(3-8)and the medium pace Latchman Rohit(3-17) combined to achieve an exciting victory in a low scoring encounter. Lall’s all-round display earned him the Man-of-the-Match award while the tournaments’ best bowler and batsman were Safraz Ally and Yogeshwar Lall respectively.
The winning team received $60,000.00 and trophy while the runner-up received $40,000.00.
In the third place play-off Ravens defeated Charity by four wickets to earn $10,000.00.

(Errol Stephney)