Vin­ode Mam­chan

First Cit­i­zens Clarke Road fin­ished as group three win­ners af­ter they de­feat­ed Lumar Es­mer­al­da by 18 runs in their do­mes­tic T20 Fes­ti­val game at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre, yes­ter­day. Es­mer­al­da, chas­ing 128 runs for vic­to­ry, were sti­fled by ex­cel­lent spin bowl­ing and even­tu­al­ly fell for 109. Naren­dra Bridge­lal was the pick of the bowlers and copped the 'Man-of-the match' award with 3/25. The vet­er­an Mukesh Per­sad was al­so in fine fet­tle, tak­ing 3/16. To­bag­on­ian Jahron Al­fred smacked an un­beat­en 20 off 11 balls with three six­es but it came too late, as spin from the Pe­nal boys ruled the night.

Ear­li­er, Clarke Road squan­dered a good start by open­er Ahmed Mo­hammed and failed to build de­cent part­ner­ships that re­flect­ed in their fi­nal score of 127 for nine. Ahmed Mo­hammed, who won the man-of-the match award in their open­ing win against W-Con­nec­tion Wan­der­ers went hard at the bowl­ing again and thrilled the hand­ful of spec­ta­tors. Mo­hammed ham­mered the bowl­ing to all parts of the ground and count­ed 35 off 21 balls to lead the way. He was ably as­sist­ed by Ja­maican Dan­za Hy­att who made 19 from 26 balls and Guyanese Ran­gana Latchana (21) from 20 balls. Bar­ba­di­an Ryan Hur­ley proved the main man for Es­mer­al­da, as his quick off-spin­ners earned him four wick­ets for 21 from his four overs. He was ably as­sist­ed by To­bag­on­ian Aaron Al­fred who grabbed 2/27.

FC Clarke Road 127/9 (20 ovs) (Ahmed Mo­hammed 35, Ran­gana Latchana 21, Dan­za Hy­att 19, Ryan Hur­ley 4/21, Aaron Al­fred 2/27) vs Es­mer­al­da 109 (18.4 overs). (Jahron Al­fred 20 n.o., Naren­dra Bridge­lal 3/25; Mukesh Per­sad 3/16.

Clarke Road won by 18 runs.

Man of The Match: Naren­dra Bridge­lal.