A 220 third-wicket partnership between century maker Chien Gittens and Khemraj Ramdeen led the Muslim Youth Organisation to a 198-run win over the Everest Cricket Club when action in the New Building Society (NBS) 2nd Division 40-Overs cricket competition continued yesterday at the MYO ground.

Gittens started with a barrage of fours before he went over the top. In total, he smashed 14 fours and five sixes in his score of 117 runs.

For skipper Ramdeen, the win was a bit personal. The game was his first against his former club.  The 28-year-old, who is a former second-division captain and the 2015 second-division batsman of the year for Everest, stroked 14 fours in a score of 85, which helped the home team to 347-7 in the reduced 35-over game.

That mammoth total did not always look possible for MYO.  Everest, who won the toss and bowled, had sent back the home team’s openers Abdool Kadir (18) and Shafeek Ishmael (15) to leave the score on 43-2, before Gittens joined Ramdeen.

After a lengthy period of dominance, Dwayne Adams stopped the onslaught by capturing the wickets of both batsmen in his fifth over; MYO were, however, not done as middle order batsman, Safraz Esau, played some aggressive shots to lead the team past the three-figure mark.

Esau hit seven fours and two sixes in his 47, while towards the end of the innings, Anthony King (20) belted two sixes and a four.

Adams and Travis Mohamed finished with two wickets each for the visitors.

THE CHASE
Everest lost four early wickets in the chase (4-14) with opening bowlers Gittens and Timur Ayube grabbing two each.

Ritchie Looknauth (60) and Matthew Nandu (38) then added 96 runs for the fifth wicket, which was the high point of the visitors’ innings. Nandu, who struck five fours, was bowled by King, before Riyad Sattaur and Looknauth fell to Parsram Parmanan in one over.  Abdul Kadir (who burst his hands in the process) caught Sattaur after he had attempted to bullet a shot through mid-on; while two balls later, Looknauth was bowled.

Dinesh Mangal (22) hit three fours and a six towards the end, before the overs expired with Everest on 149-9.

The opening bowlers, Parmanan and King finished with two wickets each for the home team.