Vin­ode Mam­chan

Last year's run­ners-up Pow­er­Gen showed that they are se­ri­ous con­tenders once again, as they brushed aside an in­form Mer­ry­boys out­fit by 21 runs to fin­ish as win­ners of Goup Two as ac­tion in the TTCB T20 Fes­ti­val con­tin­ued at Guaracara Park, PaP, on Tues­day night. Bat­ting first, Pow­er­Gen got a bril­liant 70 from open­er Nicholas Sood­eosingh to reg­is­ter 165 for four off their 20 overs and then re­strict­ed Mer­ry­boys to 144 for eight off their 20 overs, with skip­per Samuel Badree tak­ing 4/18. Mer­ry­boys chas­ing 166 for vic­to­ry got off to a bad start los­ing Aaron Al­fred (1), Dono­van Pagon (0), skip­per Al­cin­do Hold­er (13) and Lendl Sim­mons (15) in quick fash­ion. The Wind­ward Is­lands play­er Ked­dy Lesporis slammed an ex­cit­ing 61 off 35 balls with sev­en fours and two six­es but his ef­fort was not enough, as Mer­ry­boys suf­fered for their bad start. To­wards the end Guyanese Troy Gon­za­les scored 19 off 12 balls with two fours and a six but Mer­ry­boys could muster just 144 for eight.

Ear­li­er, Pow­er­Gen won the toss and de­cid­ed to take first strike and open­ers Evin Lewis and Sookdeosingh bat­ted beau­ti­ful­ly. The duo ran well be­tween the wick­ets when the bound­aries were not com­ing and dis­patched any­thing off line or length with alarm­ing reg­u­lar­i­ty. They post­ed 75 runs in quick suc­ces­sion, when Lewis left for 43 off 33 balls with five fours and one six. Guyanese Ra­jen­dra Chan­dri­ka was next in and he bat­ted well, tim­ing the ball and find­ing the gaps with ease. He and Sookdeosingh car­ried the score to 153 and by that time, they had al­ready put Pow­er­Gen in the dri­ver's seat. Sookdeosingh end­ed with 70 from 53 balls with four fours and three six­es, while Chan­dri­ka made 43 not out off 30 balls with two fours and three six­es. Hold­er was the pick of the Mer­ry­boys at­tack with 3/16.

Scores

Pow­er­Gen 165/4 (20)(Nicholas Sookdeosingh 70, Evin Lewis 43, Ra­jen­dra Chan­dri­ka 43no, Al­cin­do Hold­er 3/16) vs Mer­ry­boys 144/8 (20)(Ked­dy Lesporis 61, Troy Cor­nelius 19, Samuel Badree 4/18) – Pow­er­Gen won by 21 runs. Man of the match: Samuel Badree.

Lat­est STAND­INGS

GROUP ONE

Team P W L NR PTS

QPCC 2 2 0 0 4

Moo­sai 2 1 1 0 2

Cen­tral Spts 2 0 2 0 0

GROUP TWO

Pow­er­Gen 2 2 0 0 4

Mer­ry­boys 2 1 1 0 2

Comets 2 0 2 0 0

GROUP THREE

Clarke Rd 2 2 0 0 4

Es­mer­al­da 2 1 1 0 2

Wan­der­ers 2 0 2 0 0

GROUP FOUR

Preysal 2 2 0 0 4

T&TEC 2 1 1 0 2

Bsm­boo 1 0 1 0 0

nb- Teams in bold have qual­i­fied for the quar­ter-fi­nals.