B’ce Universal DVD Titans are Independence cricket champions

May 28, 2012 Sports

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By Samuel Whyte
The Universal DVD Berbice Titans are the Inaugural   Independence twenty/20 cricket champions when they defeated Hits and Jams Superstars in the final of the one day mega competition which was organised by the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) and the Berbice Chamber of Commerce& Development Association (BCCDA) and played on Saturday at the Albion Sports Complex ground.

The day’s activity which got underway around 15:00 hrs due to the persistent rain fall, saw the organisers pulling all the stops and using their immense organisational skills to pull the day’s activity off.  Most of the matches had to be played under lights with the finals ending in the wee hours of Sunday Morning.
With the ground heavy due the persistent rainfall and the heavy dew which made scoring difficult. The Universal DVD Berbice Titans held their nerves and showed their superior quality to defeat arch rivals Hits and Jams Superstars in a closely contested game.
The final was further reduced to a 10 over affair after rain had intervened during the second over of the Titans innings after they won the toss and elected to take first strike in front of the large and appreciative crowd, which braved the weather.  The Berbicians compiled a formidable 94-2 with national player Jonathan Foo plundering an unbeaten 41(2×6 and 3×4)  off 22 deliveries with support from West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon 24 not out (2×4) as the two hammered 54 in 4.5 overs.  National opener Richard Ramdeen made 15(2×6) and had earlier put together 25 in 2.5 over for the first wicket.  There was one wicket apiece for Zaheer Mohammed and Andre Stoll.
Hits and Jams in their reply, although they lost wickets at regular intervals, were kept in the game by the power hitting by  the powerfully built Andrew Lyght Junior who clobbered  49 (7×6,1×4) off 21 deliveries, losing  two balls in  process. Elton Baker with16 (1×6, 1×4) was the only other batsman into double figures as the visitors were dismissed for 85 in 8.3 overs to lose by 9 runs.
Bowling for the Berbicians Steven Latcha 3-15, West Indies leg spinner Devendra Bishoo 2-17 were the main wicket takers as pacer Michael Newland and Chattergoon collected one each.
Earlier, the Veerasammy Permaul led Titans had defeated fellow Berbice team Karibee Rice Elephant Boys.  Titans had won the toss and asked the Elephants Boys to take first taste of the pitch. They reached 117 all out in 14.5 over with Clinton Pestano 28(3×6), Devon Clements 21(2×6), Keith Fraser 20(2×6, 1×4) and Eon Hooper13 (1×4) the main scorers.  Permaul had spun webs around the batsmen as he ended with 5-8 bowling for the Titans. Chattergoon had 3-20 with Newland and Rajiv Ivan one each.
During the innings West Indies pacer Brandon Bess was taken off the attack after bowling two beamers in an over which conceded 17 runs and just two legitimate deliveries, one of which went for a six.
In Reply the Titans had a rollicking start between Chattergoon 37(3×6, 2×4) off 17 deliveries and Ramdeen12 (1×6) of 45 in 4.3 overs, but were soon in a spot of bother at 47-3 with the Elephant Boys captain Sean Pereira picking up two quick wickets. However entered Jonathan Foo who slammed a quick fire 36(2×6, 4×4) and Khemraj Mahadeo an unbeaten 28 (3×6, 1×4) saw Titans to 118-6.
The second semifinal between Hits and Jams Superstars and the Hotel Tower Cavaliers was a cliff hanger with the game ending in a tie thus the teams having to play a super over.
Hits and Jams won the toss and reach 83-9 in the 15 overs with Anson Barrington 17(2×6), Robin Bacchus 20(1×6, 1×4) and Wasim Haslim 15(2×4) being the principal scorers.
Andre Percival 3-19, Balram Samaroo 2-9 and Anthony Ifill 2-19 were the top bowlers. Cavaliers in the reply made heavy weather of the total as they ended on 89 all out off 15 overs. Troy Gonsalves 31(2×6, 3×4) led the fight.
The supper over saw Hits and Jams making 11 to which Cavaliers replied with 6.
At the presentation ceremony that followed immediately after. All the trophies were presented compliments of telephone giants Digicel. The Berbice Titans were presented with the winning Digicel trophy and $400,000 compliments of Nand Persaud/Karibee Rice, Ezee Jet, Delmur Company Limited, F&H Printery and Gilgeous First Choice Pawn Shop.
Hits and Jams received the $200,000 runner up money and trophy all compliments of Digicel.  The two losing semifinalists received $100,000 compliments of Universal DVD and trophies.
Additional prizes went to Andrew Lyght who received two for scoring the most runs in the finals and the highest individual score during the competition. Veerasammy Permaul received for the best bowling figures of 5-8, wicketkeeper Tyrell Tull the best fielder with catches five. Businessman D. Arjune had put up $5,000 for every boundary struck in the final, in all 13×6 and 8×4 (21 boundaries) were plundered a total of $105,000. He had also offered to Bishoo $10,000 for each wicket taken in the finals. Bishoo took 2 wickets.
The activity was declared opened by Regional Chairman David Armogan who traced the significance of independence which he linked with Britain and the development of West Indies cricket which ruled the roost during the 70s and 80s. He congratulated the organizers on behalf of Government of Guyana and the Regional Administration.
Under lights, fans were treated to the action on Big Screen Projectors, Fireworks and other entertainment packages. A number of top artistes were also in attendance.
Patrons also had an opportunity to win fabulous gate prizes including cell phones, mp3 players, lazy boy suite, cricket gear, hampers among other tokens from various companies. The day’s activity was played under the theme “Celebrating Guyana Struggles, molding our future through the development of sports.”

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