Rose Hall Town clinch Ivan Madray T20 title in tense finish

In a low-scoring, but gripping final, it was Rose Hall Town Thunderbolt Flour who emerged victorious over Albion Cricket Club in the Ivan Madray T20 finale, which was contested at the Number 69 ground, Upper Corentyne, on Sunday.

Rose Hall, who lost the inaugural final to Young Warriors, clinched the second tournament by a mere five runs.

The Berbice Cricket Board-organised First Division final without doubt kept the sizable gathering of villagers on the edge of their seats, car trunks or wherever they found comfort to view the see-saw match.

Rose Hall batted first after winning the toss, reaching 130 all out in 19.5 overs before limiting arch-rivals Albion to 125 all out.

Albion needed 10 off the final over, but the handy left-arm spin of Keith Simpson was enough to contain the men in blue. Simpson ended with 3-29 and got support from captain Eon Hooper, who took 3-26.

Albion seemed to always be in with a chance as captain and opener Kandasammy Surajnarine made quick 22 (3x4s) followed by Sharaz Ramcharan with the top-score of 31 (4x4s; 1×6).

However, constant wickets kept the pressure mounting on Albion and even David Latchaya, who made 24, could not get them over the line

Delbert Hick was the main force with the bat for Rose Hall, making 42 (5x4s; 2x6s) from 29 balls, as Gourav Ramesh took 4-36 in the all-spin attack by Albion. Simpson with 15 (1×4) from 10 balls and Troy Matheron 16 (2x6s) from eight balls were the other main contributors.

Rose Hall won $100,000 and Albion took home half that amount.