By Frederick Halley
A BRILIANT opening partnership of 134 between West Indies Under-19 player, Matthew Nandu (58) and Navin Nauth (59) propelled Kaieteur International B to an emphatic seven-wicket victory over United Titans when the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) 2021 season climaxed at the Ashtonbee Number One ground on Saturday.

Set 158 to lift the Division One title, after United Titans were restricted to 157 all out in 49.1 overs, the youthful Kaieteur side reached the required target in 32.2 overs with former Canada Under-19 player Raqib Shamsudeen (six) and Lincoln Hotiram (four) formalizing the inevitable.

Mixing aggression with solid defence, the left-handed Nandu, who also played a pivotal all-round role in last Saturday’s semi-final win over Palace Panthers, and right-hander Nauth looked supremely confident as they set about chasing Titans target after the latter were inserted by skipper Arjuna Sukhu.

Fresh from his stint with the West Indies Under-19 team in England, where he registered two half-centuries in the final two games of the six-match One Day International series, Nandu continued his rich vein of form, striking five exquisite fours and a six in his 70-ball 59 before he was brilliantly taken at short extra cover by Farrukh Chodry off consistent medium-pacer Nazir Shaikh.

Shaikh also sent back Navin’s brother, Ravindra, for a first-ball duck, comprehensively bowled playing forward to a full-length delivery.

With six needed for a resounding win, Shaikh was again in the picture, grabbing his third scalp as Navin was trapped LBW for 59, a fine innings which spanned 109 balls and which saw him spanking six fours and clearing the boundary once. Shaikh, who was the only wicket-taker, ended with three for 28 from five overs.

Earlier, Titans started their innings disastrously, slipping to nine for two in the first six overs and despite minor recoveries between Chodry (36) and Shaikh (16), who added 36 for the third wicket and 43 for the fourth between Chodry and Roshan Hemani (26), they were never in control on a sun-lit day.

With both Chodry and Hemani departing at 88, the innings was in ruins at 88 for five in the 28th over.

Skipper Taimur Hussain, who smashed two sixes in 24 off 47 balls and Usman Mughees with a defiant 20 rallied the lower-order but the eventual total of 157 proved inadequate for the rampant Kaieteur side which only lost a solitary regular season game in Group B. Titans, on the other hand, finished second in Group A to defending champions, Toronto Rhinos, but spanked them in their semi-final fixture. Kaieteur won from Palace Panthers.

Nandu, who also claimed two for 21, with his off-spin bowling, from his 10 overs, copped the man-of-the-match award, a feat he also achieved in the semi-final, one day after returning from Guyana via England the previous weekend. Ravindra Nauth bagged three for 48 from 9.1 overs while Matthew’s brother, Marcus, who bowls leg-spin, claimed two for 29 and skipper Arjuna Sukhu, who caused the early damage, two for 27 from 10 overs.

At the presentation ceremony, SCA President, Guyanese-born Shiv Persaud congratulated both teams for reaching the final, pointing out that they are both “winners.”

Man-of-the-match Nandu, leading scorer Navin Nauth and best bowler Ravindra Nauth were recipients of cash incentives, compliments of Ryiad Sattaur, Anand “Mutt” Singh, Karan Rajkumar and SCA secretary, Eon Gunraj.

Toronto Rhinos’ Aamir Khan led the batting aggregate in the division, totalling 398 runs from nine matches, averaging 66.33 runs per innings while Chiraj Rathod (Palace Panthers) scored 326, also from nine matches, averaging 36.22 and Ahmed Nana (Palace Panthers) hit 288 in eight matches for an average of 36. Both Khan (129) and Nana (120) hit centuries.

Nandu’s season was curtailed because of international and other commitments in Guyana but he still managed to total 221 runs from four matches with a top score of 85 and a phenomenal average of 110.50.

In the bowling department, Shamsudeen (Kaieteur) took 22 wickets at 6.73 runs apiece; Aamir Dorcat (Palace Panthers) 18 at 15.11 and Bilal Chaudry 17 at 12.12.