Wiruni defeat Sandhills Friendship by four wickets to claim championship

BCB/Berbice River 30-Over tournament

The Berbice Cricket Board on Thursday last hosted a historic final at the Albion Cricket Ground between Sandhills Friendship Cricket Club and Wiruni Cricket Club in the BCB/Berbice River 30- Over Tournament. The final was played in front of a sizeable and very vocal crowd. Wiruni Cricket Club defeated Sandhills Friendship Cricket Club by four wickets to spark wild celebration among their supporters.
Sandhills Friendship Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first, but was bowled out for 125 off 28.2 overs. Joshua Leacock, 29; Leon Swammy, 30; and Ryan De Nobrega 17, were the principal scorers.
Under cloudy conditions, De Nobrega and Leacock put on 40 for the first wicket, but found it difficult to find the boundaries, as the Wiruni players bowled and fielded well. Delroy Osbourne with 4 for 34, Selman King with 2 for 17, and Samuel Seegolam with 2 for 05 were the outstanding bowlers for Wiruni Cricket Club.
Needing to score 126 from 30 overs to lift the title, Wiruni Cricket Club was indebted to a well-played innings of 31 not out from Player of the Final, Melroy Da Silva. He received support from Kwesi Sinclair 28, as Wiruni reached 127 for 6 in 18.5 overs. Medium pacer Leon Swammy, with 2 for 18, and Joshua Leacock, with 2 for 26, bowled well in a losing cause.
Three teams: Wiruni Cricket Club, Sandhills Friendship Cricket Club, and Ebini Ranchers Cricket Club, participated in the round robin tournament, with Wiruni and Sandhills Friendship going on to the Final. The tournament was the 19th to be successfully completed by the Berbice Cricket Board for 2018, while several others are slated to be completed by yearend.
BCB President, Hilbert Foster, hailed the level of cricket played by the teams and expressed pleasure at the high standard of discipline, bowling, fielding and the potential of several batsmen. Foster urged teams to always strive for success, and committed the Berbice Cricket Board to hosting four major cricket tournaments in 2019, and to assisting the clubs in developing themselves.
He also extended an invitation to the Berbice River Sub-Association to select a combined team to play a 20/20 match under lights as part of a developmental programme. Foster, in his capacity as Secretary/CEO of Guyana’s leading youth club, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, handed over a complete set of cricket stumps and a score book to both teams, while the BCB provided educational posters.
Captains Joshua Leacock and Johnny Sinclair both hailed the BCB for the outstanding work it was doing to promote the game across the entire Berbice. Leacock expressed gratitude to the Berbice Cricket Board and Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS for the items donated to the clubs.
The Berbice Cricket Board would like to express gratitude to Azad Habibulla of West Coast Berbice for his contribution towards the tournament.