Danram’s 59* and Paul’s 5-16 spearhead Trojans victory over Diplomats

By Timothy Jaikarran

The 2018/2019 season of the NBS 2nd Division 40 overs tournament continued at the Everest ground on Camp Road as the UG Trojans dismantled Diplomat SC.
The match opened in an emphatic manner; as the UG Trojans ranking fifth with 28 points, and Diplomats ranking sixth with 21 points, looked to move up the table. Both teams needed to win all their remaining games if they wanted to top the tables and surpass the inform MYO for Zone A. Winning the toss, Diplomats elected to bat on the flat track as they intended to post a big total, with little sun and the wind blowing across the ground. It would have seemed that batting first wasn’t the best option as the UG Trojans capitalised on every opportunity given to them.
S Hughes and L Evans opened the batting for the Diplomats; they got off to a brisk start as they punched some powerful sixes and immaculate fours. However, things did not go as planned as Hughes was caught by Fung-A-Fat off the bowling of Sarwan for 21. Needing to focus, M Simpson who now joined Evans at the crease was removed for a golden duck, off the bowling of D Douglas shortly after Evans followed suit as he was removed by Omesh Danram for 17 to leave the Diplomats three wickets down before 10 overs. D Babb then took to the crease with Adrian Foster as they attempted resurgence; however Babb received no support from his teammates. Babb was now forced to take the innings upon his shoulders as he took majority of the strike in his elegantly stroked 35 that consisted of towering sixes and well-timed boundaries before he was caught by the boundary off the gentle off-spin of A Sarwan.
Sarwan then struck in the later overs to have S King stumped for five. Speedster D Paul then came to the bowling line and wreaked havoc as he took the wickets of the Foster brothers for 6 and 0 respectively; R Gill, S Williams and M McAlmont for 4, 4 and 0 respectively to have the Diplomatd posting 123 all-out in 25 overs of their allotted 40 overs. Bowling for the Trojans were D Paul (5.5- 5- 16) who was supported by A Sarwan, who chipped in with three wickets and D Douglas and O Danram who bagged one a piece.
Needing 124 for victory, the Trojans approached the small total with an aggressive nature as they aimed to chase the total down in less than 25 overs. Coming to the batting crease were G Thakurdin and E Ali as they were set to face Diplomat speedster Adrian Foster. Thakurdin wasted no time in attacking as he made his intention clear when he blasted the first ball of the game for a six straight over the bowlers head; he followed up his six, with a smashing boundary on the fifth ball of the over but Foster had the last laugh as in his final ball of the first over, he had Thakurdin caught for 12. Trojans Captain Melroy Stephenson then came to the crease with Ali at the other end. Ali, like Thakurdin, made an aggressive start as he blasted 18 runs which consisted of three scintillating boundaries shortly before he was bowled by Andre Foster. This then brought Omesh Danram to the crease – Danram and Stephenson supported each other as they patiently chased the small total down.
However, Stephenson fell for 8 off the bowling of S Hughes, now bringing M Persaud to the crease. Persaud looked confident in his stroke play from ball one but due to a simple mistake, he was run out for 6. Shortly after O Doman was run out for 7, off the bowling of McAlmont, as the Trojans lost two quick wickets despite Danram leading the innings. The inform Danram then blasted his way to 50 as he advanced down the track to smash a six, he then followed up his 50 with a few boundaries to win the game for the Trojans in 18.5 overs as he ended his innings on 59 and the Trojans culminated the day on 124-5 to gain valuable points to their tally in their goal to climb the table.