A BRUTAL innings of 60 not out from Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour first-division captain Clinton Pestano and a fine bowling spell from former senior national player Eon Hooper powered their team to an easy eight-wicket victory against Blairmont in the semifinal of the BCB Premier T20 tournament.

Playing at the Area ‘H’ ground in blazing sunny conditions, the Berbice powerhouse booked their place in another final after winning the BCB Ivan Madray T20 tournament last week against arch rivals Albion at the NO. 69 ground.

Blairmont, led by veteran Shameer Baksh won the toss and elected to take first strike.

They lost opener S. Bissoondyal caught behind the wicket by Jason Sinclair off Hooper at 9 for 1 in the second over.

Former national U-19 player Javed Karim was left caught at long on off Troy Matterson for 20 at 29 for 2 in the fifth over.

The Blairmont team never recovered as the home team bowling attack tightened the screws.

A. Balman scored 24 with two boundaries, but apart from Farouk Subhan with 16, none of the other batsman reached double figures.

Nigel Deodat (9), Seon Glasgow (0), Sameer Baksh (0), D Mickle (0), Clive Harry (6) and A. Ragbheer 5 were all dismissed cheaply, while A. David was unbeaten on 1 as Blairmont were bowled out for a meagre 94 in 19.3 overs.

Hooper claimed 3 for 23 from four impressive overs while Keith Simpson continued to impress with his left-arm spin by claiming 2 for 18.

National U-17 off spinner Matthew Pottaya took 2 for 8 from two overs, while Troy Matterson bagged 1 for 8, Jeremy Sandia 1 for 14 and Jonathan Rampersaud 1 for 12.

Needing to score 95 from 20 overs to book their place in the final, Rose Hall Town lost opener Matthew Pottaya, bowled by Nigel Deodat for 8 with the score on 29 in the third over.

Pestano started with a sweetly timed boundary as he batted aggressively from the start, but lost fellow national player Kevlon Anderson at 39 for 2 when he pulled Seon Glasgow into the hands of deep mid-wicket.

Jonathan Rampersaud joined his captain and they added 60 runs for the third wicket to lead their team into the final.

Pestano’s 60 came from 30 balls with six boundaries and six sixes in his brutal innings, while the elegant Rampersaud ended on 16.

Left-arm spinner Nigel Deodat took 1 for 31 from four overs while Seon Glasgow claimed the other wicket to fall for 27 runs from two overs as Rose Hall achieved victory off 11.2 overs.
Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour will now await the other finalist.

Albion and Port Mourant are set for their quarter-final games later this week, while Tucber Park and Rose Hall Canje will clash in the second.
The two winners will move onto the semi-final and then the final