A dominant innings of 154 by West Indies T20 player Sherfane Rutherford denied Essequibo a second successive title in the SBF Petroleum CGI 50 overs Franchise League. After East Bank inflicted a 35-run defeat on the defending champions Essequibo at Everest, that meant Lower Corentyne winning with a bonus point at Young Warriors against Upper Corentyne, landed them the 2019 title, finishing with 25 points, tied with Essequibo but won the title due to head-to-head.
Renaldo Ali-Mohamed shared 148 runs together
Under scintillating sunshine watched in-front of a hand-full of spectators, East Bank won the toss and elected to bat first racking up a mammoth 318 all out in 49 of their allotted 50 overs. In addition to Sherfane Rutherford’s brilliant innings of 154, Renaldo Ali-Mohamed hit 42 and Vishual Singh scored 36.
Rutherford’s 154 sinks Essequibo
East Bank had earlier lost Trevon Griffith (19) and Matthew Dindyal (01). A 34-run partnership between Matthew Nandu (20) and Singh took the score to 66-3 in 103.5 overs. It was then destruction time as the fearless Rutherford entered the crease with determination in his eyes. The 21-year old Enmore lad, Rutherford, slammed 13 sixes and 11 fours in his swashbuckling 154 that came off only 96 balls in 137 minutes.
Rutherford who began his mission to a daddy century, tear the arguably the best bowling line-up in the tournament apart. He smashed Joshua Jones for four consecutive fours and took the spinners to a stroll, smashing sixes at will. His first milestone, his half-century came in 39 balls, with back-to-back sixes off Ricardo Adams. Rutherford was put down on 79 but it proved costly, as he reacted with a six the very next ball.
Quinten Sampson top-scored with a blazing 67
The dangerous left-hander, Rutherford raced away to his century in 78 balls which came up in his trademark fashion, a brutal four. It took him less than 18 balls to reach his 150; his monumental innings which included sixes outside the ground, closed after he was bowled by Quinten Sampson. Rutherford featured in a dominant 148-run partnership with Ali-Mohamed who scored 42. In all the carnage at Everest, Sampson bagged 3-41 in six overs, Akinie Adams had 2-47 and Anthony Adams was economical with 1-25 in the Ronsford Beaton-less bowling attack.
Essequibo fell short after brilliant effort
In reply, Essequibo had a horror start losing Kevon Boodie via the leg-before route with the second ball bowled by left-arm spinner, Trevon France. Kevin Christian (02) fell for 27-2 but Nokta Moses (24) partnered the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 336 runs, Kemol Savory. Savory batting at three showed his class in his 45 from 81 balls which was constructed with three fours. His innings ended when the off-spinner, Griffith shattered his stumps.
Player of the match at Young Warriors Junior Sinclair
Ricardo Adams fell for 22 but Sampson and skipper Adams combined forces and added 93 runs together for the sixth wicket partnership. Essequibo kept on hunting down the target but Rutherford, returning with the ball, silenced the scattered crowd. Sampson top-scored with 67 from 39 balls, inclusive of five sixes and dour boundaries while Anthony made 64 from 55 balls. David Williams, batting down the order chipped in with 45 from 20 balls. Trevon France ended with 3-35 in 10 magnificent overs while Rutherford ended with 3-65 in 7.2 overs. Savory’s 336 runs was the most runs in the league, while Ricardo Adams’ 20 wickets was the most. Savory was the most valuable player with 18 dismissals and 336 runs while Lower Corentyne’s Jason Sinclair had 20 dismissals, the most by a wicket-keeper.
Lower Corentyne takes the title
Led by an al-round Junior Sinclair, Lower Corentyne defeated their Corentyne counter-parts by a huge 231 runs at Young Warriors. Batting first, Lower Corentyne scored 366 with Adrain Sukwa batting at an unusual position at number six smashed 98. He was well-supported by the Sinclair brothers, Jason hit 56 while the young Junior scored 57. Tucber Park’s duo, Nial Smith and Garfield Benjamin scored 39 and 33 respectively.
Team Lower Corentyne
In reply, Upper Corentyne playing with limited players were ended on 135-7 with only Alex Algoo (56) scoring his third half-century. Junior Sinclair ended with 4-39 in his player of the match effort as Lower Corentyne took the title. The Regional Super50 Team will be announced later today for the upcoming tournament slated for November 6 in Trinidad and St Kitts.
