BCB/Perry Gossai Memorial 100 Ball TournamentD’Edward CC clinch Title after defeating Cotton Tree Die Hard CC in Final

Apr 25, 2019 Sports

The winning Team poses with the Gossai Family and BCB Officials.

The sun shone in all of its glory, the crowd was large and colourful as the Berbice Cricket Board hosted the Final of the Perry Gossai Memorial West Berbice100 Balls Cricket Tournament at the Bush Lot Cricket Ground in Bush Lot Village. D’Edward Cricket Club spearheaded by a match winning innings of 61 defeated arch rivals Cotton Tree Die Hard Cricket Club by 31 runs to lift the coveted title as the Berbice Cricket Board completed another championship.
The match was delayed by one hour due to excess preparation moisture in the pitch. D’Edward won the toss and to the surprise of Cotton Tree Die Hard decided to take first strike. They lost Altaf Khan, LBW to Wagar Hussain in the 3rd Over but was spearheaded to their eventual total of 155 for 5 by a brilliant 61 from Lakeraj Sookra. Sookra innings came from 41 balls and included seven sweetly struck boundaries and three giant sixes. Devendra Lalsa scored 28, Abdool Subhan 20 not out from 12 balls, while skipper Jaipaul Heeralall clipped in with 19 runs from 10 balls. Left arm orthodox spinner Pooran Persaud ended as Cotton Tree best bowler with 2 for 23.

Jaipaul Heeralall receives the winning trophy from the Gossai family.

Cotton Tree Die Hard Cricket Club was confident of overhauling the 156 target to emerge as Champion but Subhan returned with the ball to end with figures of 3 for 23 with some clever medium pace bowling. Subhan bounced out Harrinarine for 06 and then had Pooran Persaud caught behind to leave Cotton Tree at 17 for 2 in the fourth over. The only batsmen to offer resistance were No. 7 Marlon De Putron and No. 9 Nashad Gafoor with 32 from 13 balls and 30 from 17 balls respectively. They had Cotton Tree supporters on their feet celebrating before De Putron was brilliantly caught at deep square leg and then Gafoor was caught at cover to end the match.
The winning team, runner-up and Man of the Finals received trophies and cash prizes from the organisers.
BCB President Hilbert Foster hailed the tournament as a resounding success and was the 30th tournament successfully completed by his administration in just fourteen months, out of the 41 started. He used the opportunity to inform the large West Berbice Crowd of the remarkable progress, Berbice Cricket is benefitting from. The BCB Boss stated that more tournaments would be held in West Berbice, while teams during 2019 would benefit from donation of cricket shirts, water pitchers and cricket balls among others. He also announced that the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club would soon be constructing an indoor practise facility which would be available to Berbice players during the rainy season. He expressed gratitude to the Gossai family for their sponsorship. Attorney-at-Law Arud Gossai stated that the successful tournament was a fitting tribute to his dad, Perry Gossai, who he stated was a firm believer in using sport as an avenue to keep youths away from drugs. He praised both teams for being involved in a very competitive match which was played in a friendly environment.