Finally, Merryboys have been beaten.
Prisons Sports are the champion of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) Dream T20 Festival for the Premiership Division II title after they defeated Merryboys by 13 runs in the title match at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Balmain, Couva on Friday.
Prisons got two half-centuries from their opening batsman Zackery Ragoonath and middle-order batsman Vikash Rampersad which saw them piled on a competitive total of 180/5 off their allotted 20 overs.
Merryboys captain Mario Belcon won the toss and offered Prisons captain Bryan Boodram the opportunity to set the total to be challenged and that his team did despite losing their first wicket Akiel Clarke, who opened with Ragoonath for one with 12 runs on the scoreboard.
Wicketkeeper Calvin Smith joined Ragnoonath and they moved the score to 50 before Williams lost his wicket for 24 with four fours.
Then Boodram joined Ragoonath to contribute 59 runs for the third wicket with Ragnoonath contributing a well-played 51 runs off 42 balls with five fours and two sixes. His fifty came up off 40 balls with his second six.
Rangoonath also scored 51 against Caldrac Sports in Wednesday’s semi-final clash.
However, the fireworks were yet to come. Rampersad joined Boodram and they added 47 runs off three overs before Boodram, who scored 41 in the semi-finals, lost his wicket for 16 runs.
However, the storyline of the match was the inning played by Rampersad, 30, who was out in the penultimate ball of their innings but not before he did some serious damage with his batting.
His 78 runs came off 40 balls and it included ten sixes and no boundaries.
The right-hand batting all-rounder was dropped on 36 by Franklyn Rouse and he ran two. He blasted the next ball for six runs.
He took 30 balls to bring up his fifty with another massive six and after that, he was dropped again on 52 and went on to help his team post a challenging total for Merryboys.
Bowling for Merryboys, Keevan Tinto returned the best figures 2/41 from his allotted four overs.
In reply, Merryboys, who defeated HKL Aranquez by three wicks in their semi-final contest on Wednesday and playing without the talented Darron Cruickshank, who is playing club cricket in England, had a similar start to Prisons when opener Belcon lost his wicket for one run with 12 runs scored as the Diego Martin-based team had seven players in double figures.
Reinaldo Sammy (15), Rouse (12), Sachin Balliram (18), Samuel Felix (20), Charles (28), Tinto (21) and Clidell Goring (20) had good starts but none carried-on to build the kind of partnerships that would have got them across the line. In the end, they reached 167/8 off their allotted 20 overs falling short by 13 runs.
Bowling for Prisons, who defeated Caldrac Sports by nine runs in their semi-final match on Wednesday, was Boodram, the leading wicket-taker with 3/30 from four overs, Andre Mohammed (2/30), Jerve Cummings with 2/43 off three overs, and off-spinner Rampersad took 1/29 off his four overs.
Boodram was later named the best bowler of the tournament, while hios team-mates Rampersad was named Player of The Match and Best batsman and Ragoonath was adjudged as the Player of the Tournament for his four half-centuries.
Prisons won $40,000 and Merryboys got $20,000, while the losing semi-finalists Caldrac and HKL Aranguex Sports Club earned $10,000 each.
SUMMARISE SCORES
PRISONS 180/5 (20 overs) (V Rampersad 78, Z Ragoonath 51, C Williams 24, B Boodram 16; K Tinto 2/41, F Rouse 1/26, C Goring 1/33, K. Charles 1/53) vs MERRYBOYS 167/8 (20 overs) (K Charles 28, S Felix 20, S Balliram 18, R Sammy 15, F Rouse 12; B Boodram 3/30, A Mohammed 2/30, J Cummings 2/43). Prisons won by 13 runs.