GCA’s NBS 40-over 2nd division semi-final Amir Khan’s all-round brilliance takes Everest to final Lyght’s destructive 72 fails to save Police from 56-run loss

Apr 01, 2019 News, Sports

---

By Sean Devers
A destructive 23-ball 72 from Andrew Lyght Jnr failed to save Police from a 56-run defeat by Everest in the first ever Day/Night GCA’s New Building Society (NBS) second division 40-over cricket semi-final at DCC on Saturday as Guyana player Amir Khan shone brightly under a clear night sky.
The 26-year-old USA based Khan hit four fours and five sixes in his 41-ball 65 as Everest were bowled out for 238 in 39.3 overs before Khan, who played the first of his three First-Class games against T&T in 2011 as a teenager, returned to mesmerise the batsmen in six overs of high class leg spin to take 2-7 as Police were dismissed for 182 in 34.1 overs.
The Left-handed Mandrekar Bhola hit 10 fours and a six in 56, while former Guyana under-19 off-spinner Richie Looknauth reached the boundary four times and cleared it twice before he was run out for 45 but only opener Ronaldo Renee (11) of the others reached double figures.
Off-spinner Kelvin Leitch had 3-40 and 28-year-old Raun Johnson, who played two First-Class matches for Guyana and took 3-38 against Barbados on debut in 2014, had 2-39.
Lyght, the son of the late Guyana and West Indies ‘B’ team opener Andrew Lyght, reached his fifty from just 13 balls with seven sixes and four fours but once he departed Police slipped to 152-9.
Kemol Savory (27) and Johnson, who hit two fours and a six in 20 and featured in a 46 last wicket stand with skipper Keston Harcourt, passed 10.

Left-arm spinner Dwayne Adams had 3-13 from six overs, while Pacer Raylex Payne took 2-49 from 4.1 overs.
In a great atmosphere created by a large crowd, the Camp road side elected to bat first in glorious sunshine and lost their first wicket at 19-1 when

Adams, after cutting and pulling Harcourt for boundaries, drove too early at Johnson and skied to mid-off after making nine.
Bhola and Renee carried the score to 45 before Renee was LBW playing around a ball from Harcourt.
Khan, a former West Indies youth player, joined Bhola and together played several enterprising shots with Bhola upper cutting the lively Johnson for four with both feet off the ground and Khan clobbering Jason Heliger for three sixes and a four in his sixth over which cost 22.
But when both batsmen seemed set for hundreds Leitch removed them both to leave Everest on 165-4 before Looknauth, who pulled Leith for four, and Travis Mohamed (7) took the score to 194 when Mohamed was bowled by Leith.
With the score on 206, Looknauth was run out in a terrible mix-up with Dinesh Mangal as they both ended side by side at mid-pitch.
Mangal (8) was soon run out by a direct hit by Heliger from long-off, while Gavin Sookdeo (5) also failed to beat a bullet like return from Johnson on the square-leg boundary as Everest lost their way after the demise of Looknauth.
Police began their chase in twilight and were off to a rollicking start with in-form Lyght, fresh of the T20 century two days ago, beginning with all guns blazing; smashing Payne for 15 in the first over.
But with the score on 29, Kevin Boodie, who scored a hundred in a 265-run opening stand with Lyght at Eve Leary last Thursday, suffered a side strain and retired hurt on four.
Savory Joined Lyght and favoured the sweep, using the shot to score boundaries off left-arm spinner Javid Rasheed and Looknauth who bowled much too fast and flat at a time when Everest needed to remove the pugnacious Lyght.
As the partnership flourished, Savory, with elegant extra-cover drives, was the surgeon, while Lyght, who hit Payne for three murderous sixes in an over which cost 19, was the butcher.

But after Adams, who bowled slower than the other two spinners used, tempted the dangerous Lyght to hit a catch to long-off where Renee took the first of his four catches, and in the 10thover Lyght was gone at 111-1.
Adams struck again seven runs later when he trapped Savory LBW and when Reginald Rodrigues (3) missed a sweep and was bowled and Adams had Paul Tyndell (6) taken by Renee, two wickets had tumbled at 121 and from a position of dominance, Police were on the back foot.
Boodie returned at Tyndell’s demise, but he struggled to run and in obvious pain, he was soon dismissed for 10 at 131-5 and run rate dipped as Khan was introduced in the 18thand got bounce and turn from the surface.
When Kevin Christian dumped Rasheed for six to reduce the target to 100 it was the first boundary in 10 overs.
But Christian (11) was stupendously taken by Renee, sprinting in about 20 yards and diving full length forward to hold a stunner and leave Police on 141-6.
Three wickets tumbled for five runs before Johnson entertained the crowd with some bold hitting in his 46-run last wicket stand before the expensive Payne ended the contest in 34.1 overs.
Everest will play the winner of last night’s second semi-final between GCC and MYO in the final.

 

 

 

---

---