IMPRESSIVE spells of bowling from right-arm medium-fast Altaaf Habibulla and pacer Neive McNally and an all-round performance from Dion Chooweenam propelled the Richmond Hill Liberty Cricket Club to championship honours in the New York National Cricket League 30-over Sunday Competition.

The predominantly overseas-based Guyanese side was able to get past another Guyanese oriented club, Everest/ACS, in the final of the competition over the weekend.

In fact, it was former national U-19 cricketer, Jetendra Sookdeo, who placed the eventual second-place finishers on his back, but with Habibulla and former Jamaica Select XI player, McNally, combining for seven wickets and Chooweenam delivering a miserly spell, the chase became difficult.

Richmond Hill won the toss and opted to take first strike at Baisley Pond.  It proved to be the right call early as former Guyana U-19 cricketer, Azeemuddin Khan (15) and the in-form Chooweenam batted their way to 75 runs in 9.3 overs before the latter fell for 49.  Chooweenam’s innings, which spanned 37 balls, was punctuated by four sixes and three fours.

The loss of the eventual MVP of the final resulted in a momentum shift and over the next 11 overs, Richmond Hill lost four wickets for just 26 runs.

Everest/ACS managed to further control the run rate with the likes of former Jamaica right-arm leg-spinner doing the damage. Number eight batsman, Keron Sewnarine, however, played a few shots and spent some time at the crease towards the end, which allowed Richmond Hill to reach 176-9 from their allotted overs.

Roberto Simpson and Deveshwari Prashad picked up two wickets each.

Despite only needing to score 5.9 runs per over for victory, Everest/ACS were placed on the back-foot early. They lost their openers, Troy Haley (2) and Wasim Haslim (8) by the sixth over (2-21), but Sookdeo came to the crease and began the rebuilding process.

Habibulla though was having none of it and did the bulk of his damage during this time. He picked up the wickets of Amarnauth Persaud (3), Marinaro Dixon (1) and Prashad (0).  Jacobs used his experience well and he and Sookdeo were able to swing back the pendulum in favour of the batting team with a seventh wicket partnership of 73.

The pair, however, fell off consecutive balls to McNally in the 28th over; the tailed was then knocked over resulting in the side being dismissed for 156 in 29.3 overs.

Habibulla finished with 4-20 from six overs, McNally with 3-37 from six overs, and Chooweenam with 0-12 from his six overs.

Overall, Jacobs finished with 20 wickets in the competition, while Deveshwari Prashad finished with 19 and Habibulla 17.

In the batting department, Chooweenam tallied 392 runs from six matches at a whopping average of 78.4, while Sookdeo finished behind on 349 runs from 10 matches, Mario Persaud third on 305 from six matches and Haslim fourth on 288 from 10 matches.