One of the objectives of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) organised Grassroot one-day cricket tournaments is to allow smaller clubs the opportunity to win a BCB title. That objective was achieved in the first set of tournaments as two teams won their first-ever BCB organised tournament.
Whim Cricket Club and the Kennard’s Memorial Cricket Club on Sunday last emerged as champions of the Nagamootoo Brothers Challenge Cup and the Karran and Son General Store Tournament respectively.
Whim defeated favourite Rose Hall Town Tigers in the final at the Whim Community Centre, while Kennard prevailed over Number 43 at their home venue.
At the Whim Ground, the home team defeated Tain Block Four in the first round of the tournament, while Rose Hall Tigers squeezed Belvedere United by 12 runs in a low-scoring match.
In the final, Whim won the toss and batted after the match was reduced to 15 overs per side due to a late start. Whim reached 160-8 from the allotted overs with Vish Samaroo blasting six sixes in a blistering 77 and received support from Moonsammy Veersammy (30) and Kevin Motain (34).
Veteran off-spinner Khemraj Mahadeo took 4-17 off three overs and Therbhuwan Jagdeo 2-18, also from three overs.
Needing to score 161 runs from 15 overs to win their first-ever BCB title, Rose Hall Tigers were rocked back by V. Harrinarine (3-19) and Tameshwar Harrinarine (3-14). Veerapen Permaul, brother of Test player Veersammy, topscored with a polished 55, while Rondall chipped in with 27.
At the Kennard’s Memorial Ground in Bush Lot Farm, Central Corentyne, the home team created history by capturing their first-ever BCB title.
Earlier in the day, they had defeated archrivals Ramnarine Memorial off the last ball of the first-round match, while Number 43 Village eased past Kildonan Cricket Club.
Kennard’s Memorial won the toss in the final and batted. They amassed 156-6 in 15 overs with S. Seolall 38 (4x4s, 1×6), R. Bassoo 42 (3x6s, 3x4s) and C. Mankarran 20 being the principal scorers.
Leg-spinner Tameshwar Ramessar with 3-18 from three overs was the main wicket-taker for the visiting Number 43 Cricket Club. Number 43, in reply, were bowled out for 135 in 14.4 overs to lose by 21 runs.
A. Dayram (20), Dennis Dean (24) and Ricardo Pottaya (21) were the top scorers for the visitors. Y. Danroop took 3-21 for the champions.
Coordinators of the tournaments were Winston Smith for the Karran and Son tournament, while Karran Ramsammy was in charge for the Nagamootoo Brothers Cup. Both Smith and Ramsammy extended thanks to the BCB and the sponsors for their investment into village cricket.
The two tournaments are part of a package of 10 that would be played across Berbice as part of an effort to promote cricket at the grassroot level and to bring back the passion for the game after the enforced COVID-19 break for over a year.
Mahendra Nagamootoo is a former West Indies player; his brother Vishal played for Guyana at both the junior and senior level, while Mankarran Singh is a former first division player.
