By Frederick Halley
SCOTLAND and Namibia opened their account with convincing victories when the International Masters Cricket (IMC) Over-40 World Cup continued with two matches yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club and Lusignan Community Centre grounds respectively.
Led by a fine 104 from former Scotland First Class player and opener, Kyle Koetzer and astonishing figures of five for seven from fast bowler Azeem Akbar, Scotland defeated the Rest of the World (ROW) by 178 runs, bowling them out for a paltry 54 in 27.3 overs at the Everest Cricket Club ground, Camp Road, Georgetown.
Koetzer, who struck six fours and a solitary six, shared in two important partnerships after Scotland, batting first, were in a spot of bother at 64 for three in the 14th over. He added 61 for the fourth-wicket with skipper Shaun Coetzer (25) and 99 for the sixth with Stuart Campbell who was undefeated on 41 (two fours) when the allotted 45 overs expired as Scotland reached 232 for five. Luis Hermida (two for 41) and Hasham Khan (two for 46) were the best bowlers for ROW.
Veteran commentator Joseph “Reds” Perreira was on hand to hand over the players-of-the-match prizes to Coetzer and Akbar.
Set 179 for victory after restricting Colombia to 178 for nine in 45 overs, Namibia strolled to 179 for four in 36 overs, thereby earning their first win of the tournament following a pummeling from Australia on Sunday at the Police Sports Club ground.
The win was engineered by half centuries from Gerrie Snyman (53 not out) and 51 from opener John Valentin. Abhas Srivastava was the mainstay for Colombia, hitting five fours and a six in his top score of 69 while Abass crowned a fine all-round performance with figures of four for 30.
On Sunday, Canada rebounded from a two-wicket loss to defending champions South Africa with a huge victory over Columbia at the Enmore Community Centre ground.
Asked to take first strike by the Colombians, Canada amassed a whopping 443 for three in their allotted 45 overs with middle-order batsmen Nitin Gosain slamming a belligerent 139 and former West Indies player Shane Shillingford 139. Bavneet Bathia was also among the runs with 78.
Shillingford, who blasted 13 fours and nine sixes off 77 balls, shared an entertaining unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 255 with Gosain who belted 11 fours and an equal number of sixes as the Colombians had no answer to the onslaught.
Apart from Christopher Lass who hit a defiant undefeated half-century, the Colombians were blown away for 112 in 35 overs. Sugith Karunar claimed three for 25, Tyrone Persaud two for eight while Gosain returned to capture two for 19.
In today’s encounters, defending champions South Africa clash with West Indies at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Australia and Canada battle at Enmore, New Zealand and USA meet at the Police Sports Club ground, the Rest Of The Caribbean (ROTC) and India meet at Bourda, Scotland and England confront each other at the Albion Community Centre and the Rest of the World (ROW) take on Wales at the Lusignan Community Centre.
All the man-of-the-match prizes are being donated by Ramesh Sunich of Trophy Stall fame.
