RISING Sun rose to the occasion to defeat Cotton Field Sports Club by 57 runs via the Duckworth/Lewis Method due to rain.

After losing the toss, Rising Sun were inserted to bat first and they posted a competitive 144-5 in the reduced 16-overs match, after play was delayed due to a wet outfield.
Essequibo senior team franchise wicketkeeper/batsman Kemol Savory belted an entertaining 40 (2×4, 3×6) and received valuable support from Quentin Sampson who hammered an unbeaten 32 (2×4, 3×6) and Imran Khan with 23 (3×4, 2×6).

One wicket apiece went to Rajiv Rajkumar, Ryan Kissoon and Parmesh Persaud. In reply, Cotton Field felt the heat from the Rising Sun bowlers early in their innings. Looking perhaps to keep ahead of the run rate in the wake of the threatening weather, they lost wickets early and regularly.

They were then precariously positioned at 18-6 in 5.5 overs when the rain intervened for the remainder of the match. Fast bowler Quentin Sampson had impressive figures of 3-8 from 2 overs while left-arm spinner Imran Khan took 2-10 from 2 overs.
Umpires Deva Dass and Wazeer Dhanraj then resorted to the Duckworth/Lewis system to pronounce Rising Star as winners and into the quarter-finals of the South Essequibo Invitational T20 tournament.

Meanwhile, in the same competition Reliance Hustlers gained a walkover from Reliance Sports Club to also qualify. The remaining qualifying fixtures will see Young Achievers vs Jaguars and Sparwin vs Bush Lot Trend Setters do battle this Sunday at the Imam Bacchus ground in Affiance.

The competition attracted 32 teams from across the Essequibo Coast and attracted most of the Region’s premier cricketers including Norman Fredericks, Yogeshwar Lall, Ramesh Narine, Rovindra Parasram, Anthony Adams, Vishwanauth Lall, Kevon Boodie and Parmesh Parsotam.