By Frederick Halley

… Five-time defending champions Essequibo dethroned

TORONTO, Canada – It’s been a golden past few weeks for Berbice cricket teams in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). They have been unstoppable in the Damodar Daesrath-organised white ball Inter-county tournament and came out top in the round-arm version, played under the auspices of the Ontario Roundarm Softball Cricket Association (ORSCA) last Sunday.

In another superb performance Berbice also emerged winners of the Ontario Masters Softball Cricket Clubs (OMSCC) Inter-county Over-40 tournament, played Sunday at Ashtonbee Reservoir, thereby ending the five-year consecutive unprecedented winning streak of defending champions Essequibo.

Berbice’s seven-wicket victory over the Ontario Masters All Stars was engineered by another top-notch batting performance by ‘Mr Consistent’ Hemnarine Chattergoon who continues to have a dream season in the various leagues. The former Guyana and West Indies Under-19 batsman showed his class at the top of the order with a top score of 43, setting the stage for Troy Gobin and Munniram Karran to consolidate the middle-order.

Chattergoon struck three sixes and two fours in his fine knock but Berbice were still shakily placed at 79 for three in the ninth over, needing exactly 79 to overhaul All Stars 157 for nine in their allotted 20 overs. However, any thoughts the All Stars combination had of lifting the winning trophy were thwarted by Gobin, also a former Guyana Under-19 player, and Karran.

The experienced pair ensured there were no further alarms as victory was achieved in 18.5 overs with Gobin unbeaten on 41 and Karran 30. Gobin’s innings included three sixes and a four while Karran slammed four fours. The wickets were shared by Anil Mahadeo (one for 17), Ryan Beepat (one for 23) and skipper Uuniss Yusuf (one for 27).

Earlier, All Stars were well-placed at 95 for two in the first 10 overs but faltered badly in the final 10, adding a mere 53 runs while losing seven wickets in the process. Former national player Shivnauth (47) played some classical off-side drives while counting seven fours and two sixes in a masterful display but once he was dismissed, the rest of the batting folded.

Karran crowned a fine match with figures of two for 25 while Shazam Baksh took two for 27.

In semi-final action, Berbice easily defeated Demerara while All Stars made light work of the much-vaunted Essequibo side who were aiming for their sixth consecutive title.

Openers Aftab Shansudeen (72 with six fours and a six) and Chattergoon (66 with five fours and four sixes) led Berbice to a formidable 210 for four in their allotted 20 overs. Demerara could muster only 115 in reply, going down by 95 runs.

Led by a top score of 52 (four fours and four sixes) from Mahendranauth ‘Bobby’ Parasnauth, 31 from Seeram, 28 from Lloyd Ruplall and 21 from Yusuf, All Stars reached a challenging 175 all out in 19.3 overs. Amernauth Sukhoo claimed four for 16, Robert Lall two for 23 and Abdool Azeez two for 24.

Essequibo were rolled over for 123 in 19.3 overs with Imam Gafoor (31) and skipper Ravendra Mandolall (17) being the principal scorers. Suren Persaud took three for 19 and Yusuf two for six.

Essequibo had some measure of consolation when they defeated Demerara in the third place playoff.

At the presentation ceremony, Chattergoon was awarded the Most Valuable Player prize as well as the player with the highest score on the winning team while Parasnauth copped the MVP for the losing team and Seeram the trophy for highest score.

The tournament was once again played in honour of the late Samad, Cecelia and Simon Khan while this year’s championship trophy was sponsored by Dr Rudy Singh and his brother Dr Raj Singh.

Among the other sponsors were the Khans family, Nirad Lall, Nasser Baksh, Raymond Seecharran (First Class Printing), Nari Khan, Charlie Yakoob, Errol Bodhoo, All Trade Rentals, Ramesh and Roger Sunich (Trophy Stall).