The highly anticipated West Demerara Cricket Association (WDCA) T20 finals brought the heat in last Sunday’s action- packed match played at the Zeeburg Ground. Zeeburg Sports Club walked away with yet another trophy as they defeated Cornelia Ida (CI) by 2 runs.
At the spin of the toss, Zeeburg were triumphant and elected to bat first in front of a vocal crowd, as they knew they would face an uphill task against players such as Guyana Jaguars Akshaya Persaud and Academy Player Richie Looknauth, who have all been in fine form with the ball and bat.
The Zeeburg batsmen took to the crease and blasted the ball to every part of the ground. Despite losing wickets in quick succession, they continued to press on
The victorious Zeeburg side
aggressively to post 203-9 in their allotted 20 overs.
Zeeburg batters once again proved why they are one of the best teams on the West Coast of Demerara, as they again passed the 200 run mark with ease.
Top scoring was Malcom Hubbard (66), with support from Ushardev Balgobin (29), Balbinder Shivpersaud (22) and Andre Seepersaud (21); while the pick of the bowlers for Cornelia Ida were Richie Looknauth (4-55), M.Wazidali (2-22) and Persaud (1-51).
Needing 204 for victory off 120 balls at a net run rate of 10.20 runs per over, CI had their work cut out for them from ball one, and lost wickets at key intervals as they attempted to chase down the challenging total. The side rallied around the in-form Persaud, who took the bowlers to the cleaners.
Eventually everything came down to the last over, as Cornelia Ida lost Persaud for 98 in the 17th over.
Needing 6 off the last over, the task was left to Zeeburg captain Mark Jeffers to take his side home. In the end, Jeffers was able to defend the 6 runs as CI lost by two runs. The other batsmen scoring for CI were Richie Looknauth (25) and Harrinarine Bissiondyal (26). Jamal Gomes had 3-26.
Coach of the Zeeburg side, Yutesh Dhanpaul, said after the win, “It was a thriller. The victory means a lot to our club, due to the challenges we are facing. Victory is even more special because we came up against some really good cricketers, such as Akshaya Persaud, and Richie Looknauth who is an Academy player. We want to keep our winning ways, losing just 3 of our last 55 matches in the past three years. It’s also our 47th Championship win in the last 11 years since we started our club again. We just want to be consistent and keep producing young talents.”
