PRESIDENT of the East Bank Demerara Cricket Association (EBDCA) Rohan Sarjoo blazed his way to a 13 ball 42 then watched as Olufemi Simon took a hat- trick as Eccles Sports Club (ESC) defeated Wales Sports Club (WSC) by 10 runs to take the Country Side Agri Centre trophy at the Canal Number Two ground yesterday.

Early morning showers prevented play from commencing at the scheduled time and forcing the organizers to reduce same from a 40 overs affair to half of that, of which ESC were bowled out for 156 from their allotted overs, before they held WSC to 146-7 in reply.

Sarjoo, who is a former national youth batsman, struck six sixes and one four in his innings and along with Dave Singh’s 24 balls 37 which was decorated with eight fours and along with the 36 wides WSC give to them, took their score to 156 even though Anatoly Moti took 2-16.

President of the Guyana Cricket Board and a  Director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chetram Singh rolled back the years when he surprised his opponents by first taking two magnificent catches at first slip, then bowled his allotted overs for 16 runs, even though he went wicket less.

When WSC began their reply, they found runs hard to come by despite Terry Daniels who top scored with 29 (3×4, 1×6), scoring 10 runs off Kirk Jackson’s first over, and were held to their eventual total, falling short by 10 runs.

Daniels was the first wicket in Simon’s hat trick, losing his middle stump to the bowler after hitting him over long off for a maximum the previous delivery, while Demerara Cricket Board competitions committee chairman Kawal Mangal was beaten and bowled first delivery.

He achieved his hat trick, when he knocked back the middle stump of Singh, who had earlier struck two fours in his 10, but even though Deoshan Seetaram took 15 balls to accumulate his 27 runs (4×4, 1×6) and Ravi Persaud and GCB’s Secretary Anand Sanassie made 15 and 14 respectively, Rudy Jairam with 2-20 ensured ESC did not reach their winning target of 157 runs.

At the brief presentation ceremony that followed, Singh, Sanassie and managing director of Country Side Agri Centre Lalta Digambeer thanked both teams for a well played and disciplined game, with Singh calling on other former players to organise matches of such nature.

ESC took home the winner’s trophy, leaving WSC to settle for the runner-up spoils, while both Singh and Sarjoo were declared the best players for their respective teams and received trophies to that effect, with Digambeer assisting in all the presentations.