Powergen and Queen's Park continue to dominate the local cricketing landscape and will meet in yet another final tonight, when they square off in the National T20 title clash at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre from 7 pm.Queen's Park booked their place in the final courtesy two rained out matches and Powergen got their foot in, when they defeated Merry Boys by five wickets in their semifinal clash on Thursday night. Queen's Park will be banking heavily on their mystery bowler Sunil Narine to make a difference and land them their second trophy of the season, after they carted away the 50-overs Sunday League crown earlier in the season.Powergen, on the other hand, will depend on their experienced line-up to hold firm and play as a unit, which has been their strength throughout the season. They have already won the Premiership title and would love to add the T20 title to that collection.
On Thursday night, Powergen dominated a tough Merry Boys outfit and romped home winners easily in the end. Batting first, Merryboys had tallied a less than satisfactory 143 for seven in their 20 overs. This was way below what was projected midway during their innings. After raising their 100 in just 12 overs, the Patna Boys would have expected to end on at least 170 runs but it was not to be. They fell away badly towards the end of their innings, undoing the good work by opener Mario Belcon and top order batsman Aaron Alfred early in the innings.Belcon was quick to come out the blocks and fired away for 44 from 29 balls with five fours and a six. He and Guyanese Shemroy Barrington powered to 41 off just five overs to lay the platform for a good score. After Barrington left for 12, Alfred came in and continued the good work getting 27 off 27 balls with two fours.
When he and Belcon left, so did the hope of a competitive Merryboys score. The best of the Powergen bowlers was Alex Antoine 2/19 and there were two wickets apiece for Kavesh Kantasingh and Vaaroon Samaroo.When Powergen replied, Merryboys started well by removing Evin Lewis for seven. The left-hander had scored an even 100 not out against Bamboo in the quarterfinals. However, it was the turn of his opening partner Nicholas Sookdeosingh to take the spotlight as he hammered the Merryboys bowlers for a 27-ball 44 that included six fours and a six.National player and eventual man of the match Sherwin Ganga proved the perfect foil and contributed 44 off 29 balls with three fours and two sixes. When both men departed there was a bit of a wobble but in the end it took Alex Antonie 14 not out and Akeil Copper nine not out (including a six) to close out the match.
SCORES:Merryboys 143/7 (20) (Mario Belcon 44, Aaron Alfred 27, Alcindo Holder 20, Alex Antoine 2/19, Vaaroon Samaroo 2/24, Kavesh Kantasingh 2/34) vs Powergen 144/5 (18.5) (Nicholas Sookdeosingh 44, Sherwin Ganga 44, Jason Mohammed 17, Alex Antoine 14 n.o., Marlon Richards 2/18). Powergen won by 5 wkts.
