An explosive half-century by former national T20 player Orin Forde, coupled with quality bowling from pacers Cordell Mars and Edwin Burnette, enhanced Malteenoes Sports Club’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)/Carib Beer T20 Tournament after they defeated the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) by six wickets.
Forde, who was a member of the Guyana squad who played in the first Stanford T20 Regional Tournament in 2006, hit seven sixes and a solitary four in an unbeaten innings of 58 from 20 deliveries as hosts MSC successfully scored the required 114 to achieve victory, with five overs to spare and six wickets remaining. GDF were restricted to 113-7 after being inserted.
Orin Forde hits Kwame Crosse for a biggie during MSC’s win over GDF
Seeking their third win, MSC bowled well in their initial overs as the new ball pair of Mars and spinner Steven Jacobs provided limited scoring options for the batsmen. That restriction saw GDF slip to 35-3, never to recover as they were creeping at 49-3 at the halfway stage.
Opener Leon Andrews made 25 while Ishwar Singh and Jermaine Moe scored 20 apiece in the middle and late overs of their team’s innings.
Orin Forde (centre) flanked by fast bowlers Cordell Mars (left) and Edwin Burnette
Mars bowled his four overs up front, capturing 3-16, while Burnette was good in the middle and depth overs as he also claimed three wickets for 19 runs. Stephan Brown had another good outing with the ball, picking up 1-28 from four overs, while Jacobs sent down four overs for just 11 runs.
MSC’s reply suffered an early setback when Surujnarine Kandasammy was removed for four, caught behind by Dexter Solomon off the bowling of former youth player Dennis Legay for four. However, his opening partner Nichosie Barker and Kefa Naughton, who was promoted to bat at number three, added 38 runs to push their team closer to victory, before the latter was brilliantly bowled by Legay.
Continuing on, the hosts lost two more wickets. Barker was run out for 24, wandering too far out of his crease when Jacobs drove a ball down the ground only for it to deflect off the bowler and catch the batsman short of his ground, and Jacobs was caught on the long on boundary attempting to hit a six off Jeremiah Harris.
However, it was Forde’s innings which was the highlight of the day. The right-handed batsman was severe on anything in his zone as he demonstrated some ideal hitting for T20 cricket. His half century came up in just 17 deliveries and he closed the game with another maximum.
Left-arm orthodox bowler Legay bowled well to close with figures of 2-14 from his quota of four overs.
The win was an important one for MSC, who will now have to wait to see the outcome of the rest of group B’s matches to know their fate in the coming weeks. Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) and Everest Cricket Club are the other teams that are in contention to move on to the semis.
