A short, but deadly blitz from national cricketer, Christopher Barnwell, and smart strokeplay by teammate, Tevin Imlach, propelled the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) to a four-wicket victory over host team Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) in a six-over extravaganza on Saturday at the Thomas Lands venue.

The six-team competition, sponsored and organised by the MSC, attracted some of the big names from the Georgetown Cricket Association, including national skipper Leon Johnson, but in the end, it was a solid team effort that decided the winner.

After DCC had muscled past the Police Sports Club and Malteenoes had gotten the better of the Johnson-led Georgetown Cricket Club in the semi-finals, the two winners locked horns in the championship clash.

Barnwell won the toss and opted to bowl first with the hope of restricting the home team’s batting, but Malteenoes’ second-division captain, Nichosie Barker (eight runs) almost derailed his plan by spanking two early onside boundaries. A miss-hit by Barker off the bowling of West Indies U-19 left-arm spinner, Ashmead Nedd, however, landed into the lap of Trevon Griffith at long on.

With only seven players per side, the gaps were plenty, but DCC were able to chase down many of their opponent’s shots. Leading the charge were Griffith and Imlach, who pounced on most of the drives.

The first class fielding was coupled with solid bowling from the likes of Steven Sankar, whose over went for five runs, Griffith (who bowled his over for eight runs) and the skipper himself (11 runs), which helped the visitors curtail the scoring of the hard-hitting duo of opener Shaquille Williams and national cricketer, Steven Jacobs.

Williams struck the only two sixes of the innings and both were huge, and although he and Jacobs played a few shots, Malteenoes never looked in control with the bat. In the end, the skipper struck back-to-back boundaries off the last two balls of the innings, bowled by Imlach, which helped the home team to 67-1. Jacobs finished with an unbeaten 19 from 12 balls (3x4s); while Williams ended with a match- high 30 not out from 19 balls (3x4s, 2x6s).

Barnwell showed no respect to his opposing number in the middle. He clobbered Jacobs for a maximum over long on, off the very first ball of the innings and then replicated the shot two more times in the same over to send the small crowd into a frenzy.

By the end of the first over, Barnwell had scored 27 of his team’s 29 runs. In the second over, against fast bowler Keon Morris, the DCC skipper (29) attempted another big shot, but it flew to third-man and was taken by Marcus Watkins.

Watkins then took the ball for the third over and he instantly bowled the experienced Griffith. He kept things tight, but Imlach, who looked for the gaps, was able to turn the last ball of the over which raced into the deep square leg boundary to spoil his figures (one over for five runs).

Malteenoes saw cracks in DCC’s batting and Barker looked to capitalize; he had Joshua Persaud (06) caught by Jacobs on the boundary via a full toss off his first ball and then spun wicket-to-wicket to finish his over for just three runs.

DCC then found themselves in a bit of a worry, needing 18 runs from the last two overs, but Imlach continued to play in the gaps and spanked Delon Dalrymple for several shots, including a straight six and a four to finish the game with one over to spare. Imlach finished with 25 unbeaten runs (3x4s, 1×6).

Jacobs Jewellery and Pawn Shop assisted in the sponsorship of the competition.