Brilliant Balgobin spurs Enmore to massive win over Lusignan

Talented all-rounder Chaitram Balgobin continued his rapid rise in the sport by producing another dominant performance, this time in the latest round of the East Coast Cricket Board/Navin/Hanso 50-over First-Division competition.

The left-handed batsman and right-arm off-spinner excelled with bat and ball as Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club trounced Lusignan by 180 runs at the Enmore Community Centre ground.

Also joining Enmore in winners’ row were Enterprise, Better Hope, Fairfield and LBI.

Batting first, Enmore lost both openers Christopher Surat (0) and Imran Hassan (19) cheaply, but the middle-order countered well, shifting the momentum in the home team’s favour.

Enmore made 266 all out from 43.2 of the reduced 45 overs and at one point it seemed they were on course for 300.

Balgobin muscled four sixes and four fours in an entertaining and free-flowing knock of 70, his half-century putting the finishing touches on an innings that was set up by national senior player Amir Khan and wicketkeeper/batsman Vishwanauth Ramlakhan after the early loss of the openers.

Khan, who made a century in the previous round, followed up with a shot-filled 63 (5x4s, 2x6s), while Ramlakhan scored 50 (5x4s, 1×6).

Enmore’s push for a 300+ total was stymied by Karamchand Persaud, who followed up an impressive opening burst, with wickets at the death. He finished with 5-53 off nine overs, while Kumar Bishundial (2-49) and Navin Persaud (2-59) offered support.

Balgobin then returned with the ball to claim four wickets for four runs from four overs as Lusignan folded for just 86 in 28 overs. Fellow spinner Yuvraj Dyal picked up 2-5 as Steve Ramdass topscored with 36.

Below are the summarised scores from the other games

Enterprise defeated Mahaica by nine wickets: Mahaica 49 all out from 14.4 overs (B. Samaroo 4-13, Rajendra Chandrika 2-27) vs Enterprise 55-1 from five overs (H. Dindyal 25, V. Albert hit 18*).

Better Hope defeated Ogle by seven wickets: Ogle 41 all out from 21 overs (Sachin Singh 4-15, Rajendra Singh 3-14, Ravi Singh 3-8) vs Better Hope 48-3 from 11.2 overs.

Fairfield defeated Strathavon by 13 runs: Fairfield 144 all out from 35 overs (Ramnarine Chatura 50, Ajay Persaud 3-20, Prakash Chowtie 3-26) vs Strathavon 131 all out from 31.3 overs (Gobindram Hemraj 36, Ramnarine Chatura 4-25, Karpov George 3-16)
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LBI defeated Buxton by 172 runs: LBI 273-9 from 50 overs (Ariel Tilku 75, Nizam Khan 52, Alex Algoo 34, Richard Dowlatram 24, Anthony McFarlene 2-45) vs Buxton 101 all out from 26 overs (Owen Andrews 31, Yojeshwar Bishun 5-29, Richard Dowlatram 3-19, Ariel Tilku 2-22).