Kyle Ramdoo’s undefeated century and good supporting knock of 45 from Adrian Ali help guided Hummingbirds to a six-wicket victory over Scarlet Ibis in the Sports and Culture Fund/TTCB Senior 50 Overs final at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Sunday.
Ramdoo carved out 119 not out from 140 balls with nine fours and four sixes as Hummingbirds chased down Scarlet Ibis 226, to end on 230 for four to be crowned champions of the Sports and Culture Fund 50-Overs Tournament to win by six wickets.
Scarlet Ibis captain Jahron Alfred won the toss and elected to take the first strike, and found themselves in early trouble with opener Nicholas Sookdeosingh out without scoring having faced one ball. Shatrughan Rambaran and Andrew Rambaran put on 86 for the fourth wicket. Following Shatrughan’s departure for 44 off 54 balls, Alfred and Andrew added another 58 runs for the fifth wicket while Andrew top-scored with 60 off 99 balls which helped them to post 226 for all out in 45.2 overs.
The decision to bat first appeared to have backfired when Scarlet Ibis lost three wickets for only 31 runs on the scoreboard inside the power-play overs as veteran allrounder Marlon Richards sent back the prolific Sookdeosingh without scoring, and Alfred for just seven.
However Shatrughan Rambaran hit four fours and a six in his 44, and together with Andrew Rambaran, the pair restored an early batting collapse with an 86-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Andrew Rambaran compiled a patient 60 with five boundaries and a maximum and get the Scarlet Ibis back into the game with a half-century stand with the inform Jahron Alfred, who fell one run shy of a deserved half-century for 49 runs.
Alfred also put on 36 with Quinci Bebel (22) to lift Scarlet Ibis to a challenging total but in the end, it proved just short of what was necessary as they failed to bat out their 50 overs.
Sharing the wickets for Hummingbirds were Marlon Richards, Anderson Mahase, Namir Suepaul, and Jovan Ali with two apiece for 28, 23 and 39 runs respectively, while Navid Badaisee and Samir Ali picked up one each. Only, Seupaul bowled his allotted 10 overs while Richards bowled five and Mahase 6.2.
In response, Hummingbirds’ opening batsman Kyle Ramdoo, who grabbed the “Player of the Match” honours and was adjudged the “Best Batsman” for his match-winning innings of 119 not out helped laid the platform for victory with Kyle Roopchand in a 50-run opening stand. Roopchand scored 29 and skipper Adrian Ali contributed 45 off 79 balls and Navin Bidaisee added 23 off 29 balls.
Spinner Rickey Jaipaul of Scarlet Ibis was adjudged the “Best Bowler” for his spell of three wickets for 38 runs in his allotted ten overs with one maiden.
SUMMARISE SCORES
SCARLET IBIS 226 all out; 45.2 overs (Andrew Rambaran 60, Jahron Alfred 49, Shatrughan Rambaran 44, Quinci Babel 30, Teshawn Castro 21; Anderson Mahase 2/23, Marlon Richards 2/28, Namir Seupaul 2/39) vs HUMMINGBIRDS 230-4; 49 overs (Kyle Ramdoo 119 n.o., Adrian Ali 45, Kyle Roopchand 29, Navin Bidaisee 23) Hummingbirds won by six wickets.