Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets (RHTGG) and Young Warriors set up their semi-final meeting in the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club organised Busta Champion of Champions 20/20 tournament 2016 after competitive action last Sunday.
Clinton Pestano (L) and Delbert Hicks
In the first match, West Berbice won the toss and inserted Young Warriors to take first strike. Alex Algu and Wahied Edwards added 30 for the first wicket off four overs before Algu ran himself out for an attacking 26 with two massive sixes. Edwards was then dismissed for nine and when Seon Hetemyer was caught behind off Rendel Bobb for 4, Young Warriors were in trouble at 40 for 3 in the sixth over.
However, useful contribution from former national player Gajanand Singh 33, Linden Austin 24 and Vishal Mohabir 18 enabled Young Warriors to reach a respectable total of 143-7 off their allotted 20 overs. Clabius Fraser 2-6 and Rennison Mitchell 3-21 were the best bowlers for West Berbice.
In reply, West Berbice could only manage 127 all out in 19.4 overs as only Leon Andrews 34, Rennison Mitchell 20 and Raffel Estraido 18 offered any resistance to the bowling of pacer Sudesh Dhani 3-17 (4 overs) and Balram Samaroo 2-7 as Young warriors won by 16 runs.
RHTGG defeated Upper Corentyne as Delbert Hicks, Clinton Pestano and skipper Shawn Perriera enjoyed a good match. Batting first after losing the toss, the home team reached 34 without loss in the fifth over before national player Royston Crandon was bowled by medium pacer Lakeram Latchman for 23 (2 sixes, 2 fours). Former national player Delbert Hicks and Jason Sinclair then added 105 for the third wicket in eleven overs before Sinclair was dismissed by Tameshwar Ramoutar for 40 which consisted of four boundaries and a six.
The attacking Hicks was finally dismissed for a majestic 85 which featured seven glorious boundaries and four massive sixes. Former Guyana junior cricket Clinton Pestano then blasted an even unbeaten fifty off just fourteen deliveries with five sixes and four boundaries as RHTGG reached 195-3 off 20 overs. Latchman, 1-29, Tameshwar Ramoutar, 1-17 and Tameshwar Kumar 1-25 were the Upper Corentyne’s wicket takers.
Needing to score at 9.75 per over to advance to the semi-finals, the visitors were bowled out for 117 in 15.4 overs. Virendra Gooniah 31, Tameshwar Kumar 24 and Naeem Yacoob 16, were the only batsmen to reach double figures as leg spinner Shawn Perriera spun webs around the batsmen to take 4-17 while left arm spinner Keith Simpson 2-12 and medium pacer Clinton Pestano 2-23 also bowled well for the defending Champions.
The knockout tournament which is sponsored by the Guyana Beverage Company is currently in its 14th edition and involves eight teams – West Berbice, Blairmont, Tucker Park, Young Warriors, Police, Albion, Upper Corentyne and Rose Hall Town Gizmos and Gadgets (RHTGG).
Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster at the launching of the ceremony, stated that the Busta Cup is the premier Cricket Tournament of the RHTY&SC which organises at least twenty competition per year. The Busta Champion of Champions, he stated is always well organised and promoted by the Cricket Development Committee of the RHTY&SC and always receives support from the general public.
Devendra Bishoo, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin and Royston Crandon are some of the big names that have played in the tournament to date.
