THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) under the presidency of Hilbert Foster created history when it became the first cricket board in Guyana and the West Indies to host a ‘Hundred Balls’ Cricket Tournament.

The tournament, which involved 14 six-ball overs and two eight-ball overs, has now reached the final stage, with archrivals Rose Hall Town Bakewell and Albion Community Centre Cricket Club reaching the final.

They both easily won their semifinal matches with Albion Community Centre Cricket Club crushing Chesney Cricket Club by nine wickets while Rose Hall Town Bakewell breeze past Courtland Cricket Club by 110 runs.

The Berbice cricketing public is accustomed to Albion and Rose Hall Town clashing in a BCB Final and with several promising talents on both teams, another exciting final is expected.

Playing at the Chesney ground, Albion routed the home team for a meagre 48. Chesney CC lost the kingpin of their batting, Imran Khan, in the third over when he was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Mahendra Chaitnarine for 6 with the score on 7 for 1.

They never recovered, as the Albion spinners never released the pressure which was backed up with brilliant fielding. Avinash Deonarine (11), S. Khan (13) and Imran Kamaladin with 10 were the only players to reach double figures as Chaitnarine with 3 for 9, Joshua Harrichand 3 for 12 and Kevin Umroa bowled well for Albion Community Centre.

Meanwhile, Albion, in response, raced to 50 for 1 in 4.3 overs with Ritesh Umroa 30 not out and Jeetendra Outar 11 not out at the crease. Ramesh Kassinauth was the only batsman dismissed, bowled by Narine Deonarine for 8. Deonarine was the only successful bowler for Chesney, ending with one wicket for 11 runs.

At the Area ‘H’ Ground, Rose Hall Town Bakewell won the toss and batted first. They lost their in-form captain Kevin Sinclair off the first ball of the innings, caught and bowled by Leyland Edwards for nought. National Under-19 player Junior Sinclair and the elegant Surendra Kissoonlall then added 101 for the second wicket before Sinclair was dismissed for a well-played 48 (4×4, 2×6).

Kissoonlall went on to score a classy 63 while Berbice Under-19 player Keith Simpson supported with 27. J. Johnson took 2 for 31 for Courtland as Rose Hall Town Bakewell scored 179 for 5 from their allotted 100 balls.

Courtland, in reply, were destroyed by West Indies left-arm female pacer Erva Giddings and National Under-15 off-spinner Jonathan Rampersaud. Giddings took 4 for 15 from 4 impressive overs while the talented 14-year-old Rampersaud took 3 for 6.

The BCB will shortly announce the date and venue for the Final.

BCB president Hilbert Foster stated that one of the policies of his administration is to play the final at non-traditional venues, in an effort to promote the game to residents across Berbice. Popular businessman and contractor Mohamed Raffik is the sponsor of the tournament.