SCARBOROUGH Cricket Association (SCA) 50-Plus emerged winners of the inaugural SCA tournament which climaxed at the L’Amoreaux ground, Scarborough, Canada last Saturday.

In the tense atmosphere, SCA 50-Plus defeated opponents Kokuvil by four wickets, with one ball to spare in the 30-over contest.

Watched by a fair-sized crowd on a sun-lit afternoon, SCA 50-Plus were indebted to an unbeaten 38-run seventh-wicket stand between top-scorer Keith Deonarine (41 not out) and Hansie Daniel (13 not out) as they reached the required target of 150 after Kokuvil were limited to 149 for nine in their 30 overs.

Deonarine and Daniel joined forces with their side shakily placed on 112 for six in the 26th over but weathered the storm with some sensible batting. Man-of-the-match Deonarine struck four fours and three sixes off just 24 balls in his excellent knock.
Clem Peters had earlier chipped in with a valuable 33 off 40 balls, which included a four and a six as Sathianathan Nallain (two for 24) and Natkeenendran Nallain (two for 34) made the early inroads.

Kumaresh Paramanathan led the way for Kokuvil with 66 (three fours and three sixes) after they were inserted to take first strike by skipper and former Canadian National player Surendra Seeraj. He however failed to get much support from his teammates.

Left-arm fast medium bowler, the wily Calvin Alexander, took two for 11 in his six overs while leg-spinner Vinay Sadhu conceded 40 runs in his six-over spell while grabbing two scalps.

During the SCA Virtual Recognition Night, which saw outstanding players and teams being recognised for their sterling efforts in the truncated 2020 season, president Shiv Persaud had announced the introduction of an Over-50 competition.

However, only three teams participated this year, the other being Centralites. Persaud is however confident that several others will join the fray for the 2022 season.

(Frederick Halley)