Albion hold nerve to defeat Young Warriors in exciting final: Albion hold nerve to defeat Young Warriors in exciting final

– Foo named Man of the Final

The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) on Saturday hosted its fourth tournament final in less than a month as it continues to push ahead with a packed schedule for 2022.
Albion Cricket Club held their nerve under the leadership of Jonathan Foo to defeat a stubborn Young Warriors Cricket Club by nine runs to lift the title of the third edition of the BCB/Ivan Madray Memorial 20/20 tournament. It was Albion’s first First-Division title in several years and their first-ever Ivan Madray title.
Playing at the historic Port Mourant Ground in overcast conditions, Albion won the toss and elected to bat first. They had an opening stand of 34 before Adrian Sukwa fell for 16 at 5.1 overs to left-arm spinner Trevon Stanislaus. Former West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon was joined by Sharaz Ramcharran and together they added 11 before the former was caught behind for 18 as Stanislaus continued to bowl well. Albion went on to reach 128 for four off the allotted 20 overs, with Foo top-scoring with an impressive 48 from 35 balls, inclusive of one boundary and three sixes. Kelvin Umroa supported with an unbeaten 20 and Ramcharran with 14. Stanislaus and Alex Algoo were the best bowlers for Young Warriors with two wickets for 20 and 29 respectively.
Needing to score 129 from 120 balls, Young Warriors were immediately set back when national fast bowler Demetri Cameron dismissed Wahied Edwards for 2 and it was 8 for 1 in the second over. Former junior player Algoo then threw away his wicket for 13 to leave his team on 20 for 2 in the fourth over as Cameron struck again. Veterans Sudesh Dhanai and skipper Seon Hetmyer then batted confidently to add 27 runs in four overs before a match-changing mix-up resulted in the latter getting run out by the length of the pitch, for 10. Young Warriors were able to reach 76 for 3 before a middle-order collapse saw them slide to 91 for 7. They were eventually dismissed in the 20th over for 119 when Ishwar Singh was run out for an attacking 18. Linden Austin (18) and Dhanai (26) also batted well in the losing cause. The best bowlers for Albion were Ramcharran with 3 for 24 from four overs, Cameron 2 for 23 from 3.3 overs and offspinner Leon Cecil 2 for 10 from two overs.
BCB President Hilbert Foster expressed gratitude to Chandradat Chintamani for his sponsorship of the tournament in memory of his late uncle, Ivan Madray , who was the third Berbician to play Test cricket after John Trim and the legendary Rohan Kanhai. Foster informed the gathering that Madray played two Test matches for the West Indies before migrating to England, where he lived until his death in 2009. The BCB President announced a wide range of developmental programmes and tournaments. Among them was a knockout 20/20 First-Division contest with a first prize of $500,000. Other projects include primary and secondary school cricket tournaments along with coaching in all schools. Twenty-four junior teams will also receive practice nets from the BCB in an effort to improve the way they train in the afternoons. Foster also hailed Public Relations Officer Jonathan Rampersaud for introducing live stream scoring of all BCB finals, so that fans can follow the scores around the world. He also stated that the Board was working to have a majority of its finals broadcast live on YouTube in 2023.
Chintamani, in his remarks, hailed the BCB for its excellent organising skills and spoke on the importance of education to the two teams. He announced to loud applause that he would be renewing the sponsorship in 2023 .Albion received the Madray Trophy and $100,000 while Young Warriors carried home $50,000 and the runners-up trophy. Foo was named Man of the Final, and also received a trophy and cash prize.