RHTY&SC/BCB/GBTI Inter Secondary School Say Yes/No Cricket tournament: Port Mourant defeat Lower Corentyne to clinch title in super over thriller

It was one of the greatest cricket finals to be played at the secondary school level in the history of Berbice Cricket.
Port Mourant Secondary School came back from the verge of defeat to lift the 2023 Say Yes/ Say No Cricket tournament. the tournament was organized by the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club and the Berbice Cricket Board and sponsored by the Port Mourant branch of the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI)

Four schools participated in the one-day tournament- Lower Corentyne, Port Mourant, J.C Chandisingh and Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary. The main aim of the tournament was to promote the Say No to Drugs, Crime, Suicide, Racism, Alcohol and Yes to Education, Sports, Life and Religion message to over 3000 youths attending the schools in the Lower Corentyne area.
The tournament was delayed by two hours due to heavy morning rainfall, and was played in front of a large and colourful crowd of students and parents. In the first semifinals, Port Mourant defeated J.C Chandisingh by 39 runs.
Batting first, Port Mourant scored 87 for 6 from their allotted ten overs with Romesh Bharat hitting 36 and Ravin Boodwah 19. Bowling for JCCSS, Sohail Shirkisson took 2 wickets or 11 while Faraz Moses, James Latcha, Nicholas Saul and Kemo Samsarran grabbed 1 wicket each.
In reply, JCCSS reached 48 for 5 with James Latcha hitting 20.
In the second semifinals, Lower Corentyne got past Corentyne Comprehensive by eight wickets CCHS scored 43 for 4 from 10 overs with Joel Trim scoring 12. Lower Corentyne then achieved victory at 45 for 2 in 7.4 overs. Berbice junior players Damion Cecil 15 and Ari Afrizal Kadir 17 not out were the principal scorers despite Joel Cort bowling 2 wickets.
In the finals, Lower Corentyne, batting first after losing the toss, amassed 72 runs for the loss of four wickets, as skipper Nyron Hicks stroked 28 and Damion Cecil 27. Off Spinner Mario Butcher took 2 wickets for 6 runs off 2 overs.
Needing to score 73 runs from ten overs to lift the trophy, Port Mourant Secondary struggled to 30 runs from six overs before aggressive batting from Ravin Boodwah (24) and Mario Butcher (18) led them to needing two from one delivery in the 10th over to win. They could only manage a single.
Damion Cecil was LCSS best bowler with 2 for 12 and Afraz Kadir 1 for 3 from one over. In the super over, Port Mourant managed to score 10 runs, with National player Matthew Pottaya scoring 7. Much to the disappointment of their numerous fans, LCSS only scored six runs from the super over, to lose by four runs.
Foster, who is also President of the BCB, hailed the one day as a resounding success, and urged the players to develop a formula of hard work, dedication and discipline. He told the attentive students that drugs destroy the human mind, and that education is the best asset a human can have.
Special thanks were extended to the management and staff of the GBTI for their support of the tournament. Branch Manager of the GBTI Port Mourant branch, Andre Yhap, said he was delighted at the success of the tournament and the promotion of the messages to the large crowd. GBTI, he stated, fully understands its duties as a public institution, and would continue to support such events.
The four teams and the Man of the Finals received over one hundred thousand dollars in prizes.