CUL DE SAC—NAGICO United Cricket Club defeated archrival Spartans in the opening match of the Motorworld T20 Challenge at the Caribe Lumber Ballpark on Sunday.
Spartans, which General Auto Repairs formerly sponsored, is now sponsored by Motorworld. Spartans, arguably the best team on the island, lost by 32 runs to NAGICO.
The winners batted first and posted a competitive 182 for five off 20 overs. Spartans replied 150 for seven when the overs ran out. For NAGICO, Randel Longville top-scored with a blistering 67 off just 28 balls (7 fours, 5 sixes). The other main contributors were G. Mitchel with 42 off 45 balls (2 fours, 1 six), Mrinal Wadhwa with 24 off 12 balls (6 fours) and Anil Persaud with 22 off 20 balls (3 fours).
The bowlers for Spartans, except Akeem Charles, leaked big runs in the field. Akeem Charles finished with three for 23 off four overs. The opening bowlers in, Kyshawn Charles, with figures of 4-0-52-1 and Kaedani David, with 2-0-39-0 were pounced on by the batsmen.
Kyshawn Charles removed NAGICO’s opening batsman, Ashley White, from Anguilla, with the first ball of the match, but Longville and Wadhwa slammed boundary after boundary against some sugar-coated bowling. Wadhwa was dismissed at 4.1 overs with the score on a whooping 72, and Longville fell at 10.2 overs with the score on 120.
Spartans, however, did well to restrict the opponent to just 182 after the rapid start.
In reply, Spartans’ captain Kenroy David blazed away in the first over by thumping 14 off the first four balls (2 fours, 1 six) but was bowled off a ball that kept lower than anticipated to knock back half-way of off stumps. Sherwin Peters strode to the crease and also looked as if he was up for the tough run chase when he pulled a ball over long on for six off White. But the bowler bowled the next ball wider to induce an edge that was caught low down in front of first slip by a diving Longville.
Akeem Charles slammed a stroke-filled 73 off 53 balls (8 fours, 3 sixes) to give his teammates and supporters some hope of a victory. And even when Kyshawn Charles supported well with 23 off 16 balls (2 fours, 1 six), the task was too great to overcome in the end.
The best bowlers for the winner were White with three for 27 off four overs and Persaud with two for 17 with a maiden off four overs.
The Motorworld T20 Challenge continues on February 24 when Future Champs B make their debut against Lucian Rangers from 1:30 pm, and then on February 25, Masters match skills with Sun Insurance Jaguars from 9:30 am, then Future Champs A do battle against Windward Express Conquerors from 1:30 pm.
