Crystian Thurton turned in a man-of-the-match performance as he scored an unbeaten 66 runs to lead Flamingos Under-23 to a five-wicket win over Scarlet Ibis at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Day 2 of the Namalco TTCB Cup on Friday.
Flamingos captain Matthew Patrick won the toss and asked Scarlet Ibis to take the first knock, and that proved to be a perfect decision. Scarlet Ibis found themselves in early trouble at 1/8 and then 2/9 after 2.4 overs losing opener Leonardo Francis and Nathaniel Mc David, who both scored two runs each. Two days earlier the opening batsmen had put on an 81-run partnership against Hummingbirds. Shiva Sankar had accounted for Francis while Justin Manick got the scalp of Mc David, both caught by Isaiah Ali.
Scarlet Ibis did not recover as expected as they slipped to 46 for 4. Sankar got another scalp, Rickash Boodram for a duck and Denzil Antoine removed captain Kirstan Kallicharan for 10.
Wednesday’s hero, Sion Hackett then played a hand of 62 from 47 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes, as he rescued the Scarlet Ibis innings. He was the 7th batsman out, caught by Manick off the bowling of Lemuel Matthews when the score was on 130.
Scarlet Ibis were eventually bowled out for 141 in 30.1 overs. Shiva Sankar, Denzil Antoine, Sameer Ali and Lemuel Matthews all took two wickets each.
In reply, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Flamingos as they lost Aaron Bankay for eight. Hackett returned with the ball to force the batsman to offer Boodram the catch, which he obliged when the score was on nine. Isaiah Ali then scored 20, to share in a 50-run partnership with Thurton, before he was caught by Leonardo Francis off the bowling of Anderson Mahase, 59/2. Nineteen runs later, Denzil Antoine was run out for two and Flamingos slipped to 104 for 4, when skipper Matthew Patrick was bowled by Amir Ali for 15.
Scarlet Ibis snared one more wicket when Sameer Ali offered a catch to Ali, off the bowling of Shazad Mohammed for seven.
No more wickets fell, as Thurton guided Flamingos to the target, hitting seven fours and one six in his 92-ball 66. Thurton was named the Man-of-the-match.
<Gangoo cracks 56 to lead Hummingbirds home>
Justyn Gangoo starred with the bat to lead Hummingbirds to a 114-run win over Masqueraders at the Inshan Ali Park yesterday.
Hummingbirds captain Cephas Cooper called right at the toss when he chose to bat first against the Masqueraders.
Hummingbirds registered a total of 238 all out in 47.2 overs.
Mikkel Govia took 4/37 for Masqueraders, while Justyn Gangoo, scored 56 from 52 balls with three fours and one six to lead the charge.
He was well supported by Nicholas Ali who scored 37, Mbeki Joseph, who contributed 31 and Cooper added 28 at the top of the order.
In reply Masqueraders only managed 124 all out. Chris Sadanan was the architect of the damage with bowling figures of 3 for 20.
Mikkel Govia returned with the bat to top score with 37. Gerard Chin scored 31.
Gangoo was the Man of the Match as Hummingbirds recovered from the opening-day loss to Scarlet Ibis.
SUMMARIZED SCORES
SCARLET IBIS 141 (30.1 overs) S Hackett 62; S Seecharan 19, G. Ramdenny 13; Bowling: S Sankar 2/16; Denzil Antoine 2/27 vs FLAMINGOS 147/5 in 35 overs. (C Thurton 66 not out; I Ali 20; M Patrick 15, J. Manick 11) Bowling: A Ali 1/22, A Mahase 1/22, S Hackett 1/28, S Mohammed 1/41). Result: Flamingos won by 5 wickets.
HUMMINGBIRDS 238 in 47.2 overs (Justyn Gangoo 56, Nicholas Ali 37, Mbeki Joseph 21) Bowling: Mikkel Govia 4-37 vs MASQUERADERS 124 all out in 31.1 overs (Mikkel Govia 37, Gerard Chin 31) Bowling: Chris Sadanan 3 for 20. Result: Hummingbirds won by 114 runs.
