By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada — A fine spell of bowling by Andy Persaud, spurred Berbice to a comprehensive 30-run victory over archrivals Demerara in the second white ball Inter-county tournament, played last Saturday at Keele Top, North York, Toronto, Canada.

Persaud grabbed an impressive four wickets for 14 runs from his allotted four overs as Demerara were shot out for 76, chasing 107 for victory in the 20-over final, played before vocal supporters from both sides. He was well supported by Riaz Kadir who claimed two for 16 from three overs. Ian ‘Russian’ Baldeo offered token resistance with 14.

Earlier, the experienced Yadram ‘Lara’ Bogh slammed three sixes in a top score of 28 as Berbice were dismissed for what seemed an inadequate 106 in 16.3 overs. Skipper Troy Gobin was his team’s best bowler with two for 12 from three overs.

In semi-final actions, Berbice got the better of Essequibo while Demerara turned back the challenge of defending champions Canadian All Stars who were missing the services of captain and last year’s hero Royston Crandon.

Essequibo could muster only 142 for eight, after Berbice had rattled up a challenging 158 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.

Farouk Hussein stroked a fine 40, while captain Damodar Daesrath supported with 28 for the eventual winners. Narindra Mandolall led Essequibo’s charge with an undefeated 61. Andy Persaud was again among the wickets with three for 15 from three overs.

Canadian All-Stars batted first and reached 117 for seven in 20-overs with Rabindra Diaram (28) and captain Anil Samuel (24) being the principal scorers. Ramo Malone took three for 18 and Gobin three for 31.

Demerara reached the required target in 19 overs, losing six wickets in the process as Surujpaul Deosaran slammed 37. Diaram took two for 10 from four overs.

Berbice collected the Canadian Surplus trophy and $1,000 (Can) while Demerara were rewarded with the Dent Wizard trophy and 500 (Can). Most Valuable Player (MVP) Andy Persaud took home the Tropical Night Restaurant trophy for his sterling efforts in the final.

Bogh copped the Caribbean Sensation trophy for scoring the most runs in the final while Persaud also took away the S&G Glass Insulation trophy for the most wickets in the final and the Caribbean Lyme trophy for the most wickets overall. Mandolall got the JDG Tooling trophy for the most runs in the tournament and the PGI Limited prize for the highest individual score.

The best catch-of-the-day trophy, sponsored by T/S Enterprise went to Demerara’s Anil Samuel while the MVP for Demerara/Canadian All-Stars clash was Ramo Malone who took the IR Construction trophy. Farouk Hussein received the 24 Hours Glass prize for being the MVP in the Berbice-Essequibo fixture while the Santa Maria trophy for the most sixes in the final went to Yadram Bogh.

Organiser Daesrath, who hailed the tournament a success, once again thanked the many sponsors for coming on board for the second year in a row. He also lauded the efforts of umpires Kay Sookdeo and Wasim Zaffar.