By Clifton Ross

A BRUTAL knock from Chandrapaul Hemraj, coupled with seamer Rayad Emrit’s 4-for, piloted Rutherford Renegades to an emphatic 8-wicket win over Hetmyer Hurricanes, in Friday night’s Golden Republic T20 Bash.

An expert spell of seam bowling from the veteran Emrit, who returned 4-25 from his 3 overs, was instrumental in keeping the Hetmyer Hurricanes to a modest 140-9 in 20 overs.

Captain Hetmyer (24) and overseas player, Windies batsman Lendl Simmons (23), led the batting charge while West Indies Under-19 all-rounder Kevlon Anderson and Guyana Jaguars all-rounder Ronaldo Alimohamed chipped in with 19 apiece.

Rutherford Renegades in their chase, raced to 144-2 in 17.1 overs. Hemraj, the West Indies Test opener, bludgeoned an unbeaten 45-ball 58 with 3 fours and as many sixes. He shared an opening stand of 63 with ex-West Indies U-19 wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach, who muscled 42 off just 29 with six thumping fours and two maximums.

After the two openers feasted on some ineffective bowling from Chris Barnwell 1-16 and pacer Niall Smith (1-24) who were the only wicket-takers for the Hetmyer Hurricanes, the platform was already laid for victory.

After Barnwell removed Imlach, Guyana Jaguars captain Leon Johnson played a brief cameo of 17 off 15 with one four and a six before he was caught by Barnwell off the bowling of Smith.

An unmoved Hemraj continued to play his shots and when he was joined by Raymon Reifer the pair sought to get the match over in a hurry. Reifer, a renowned T20 specialist having won last year’s Hero CPL with his birth country franchise Barbados Tridents; stroked 23 not out with a pair of fours and a big six.

Hemraj and Reifer steered the ship to land, adding an even half-century stand for the 3rd wicket, winning in quite convincing manner. Earlier, when play began under lights, it was eventually the frequent loss of wickets which contributed to the Hetmyer Hurricanes being kept to a below-par total; after they elected to bat first.

West Indies opener Simmons got off to a flashy start while his partner Trevon Griffith failed to trouble the scorers, departing for a duck. In-form West Indies U-19 all-rounder Anderson showed his class with four fours before the veteran Emrit managed to dismantle his stumps for 19.

With two batsmen back in the dressing room, Hetmyer came out to partner Simmons, who had gone into double digits by then. Simmons at that point had been seemingly cruising as he helped himself to three fours and a six with his usually classy stroke-play.

However, the introduction of National left-arm spinner Anthony Adams (1-16) provided the ideal breakthrough for Rutherford Renegades knocking over the Windies batsman, with a beauty of a delivery.

Rutherford then made another dent in the lineup, removing all-rounder Barnwell (4) who got off the mark with his boundary and helped raise the team’s 50; before hitting the left-arm seamer down midwicket’s throat.

Kemol Savory (13) fell to Emrit while newbie Quintin Sampson bagged his biggest wicket to date by breaking the edge of Hetmyer, who was expertly caught by wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble.

Alimohamed and Gudakesh Motie (16) sought to put up resistance but it proved temporary, as Emrit removed the latter, West Indies U-19 bowler Ashmead Nedd for a duck and Richie Looknauth (11) to wrap up the innings.

The Rutherford Renegades then celebrated their million-dollar win with Minister of Social Cohesion/Sport Dr George Norton, who along with GCB, helped to make the inaugural 50th celebrations match an event to remember.