Berbice Crowned Champions
New York Guyana Inter-County Cricket Championship

By John L. Aaron
The third annual New York Guyana Inter-County cricket championships sponsored by Two A’s Mechanical, Inc. and its CEO Insaf “Birdman” Ali, took place last weekend, at Idlewild Park in Rosedale, Queens, NY. (Gallery 1) (Gallery 2)

The one-day Twenty20 tournament saw representative teams of the three counties in Guyana – Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo clash in a fiercely competed fixture under a bright blue sky, with a slight wind that reminded all, it was the beginning of fall in the New York.

All three teams were decked out in very attractive colored clothing, compliments of the Grand Sponsor Insaf Ali. It was a fitting finale to the cricket season in New York and involving several of those players who participate in league tournaments in the metropolitan area.

Former Guyana and West Indies test skipper and manager Clive Lloyd, graced the occasion with his presence, while on his way to the UK. The former Demerara Cricket Club skipper, however, declined to say for which team he was rooting. The very successful skipper of the West Indies team of the 70’s applauded the effort of the Berbice squad, staying on to pose for pictures with several players and fans.

Essequibo vs. Berbice
Appearing for the first time in the tournament, Essequibo was impressive in its debut against Berbice, while Demerara the 2006 champions enjoyed a bye. Essequibo’s entrance to the tournament gave Berbice quite a scare, as the Tamesh Balwant led XI, responding to Berbice’s 165, was 82 without loss at one stage of their inning.

Berbice won the toss and elected to take first strike against the opening pace pair of Telston Johnson and Wayne Isaacs. However, with 33 runs on the tins Berbice lost the wicket of Marlon Kallicharran caught off the bowling of Isaacs. The hard-hitting Amirnauth Ramcharitar recuperating from a season injury would fall the same way, but to the bowling of Troy Harper for 5; Berbice 47 for 2 in 9 overs. If the highly favored Berbice XI were to post a decent score, they would have to get going soon. Kawall Prashad was the Messiah sent in at number four. However, at this time the opening pace of Johnson and Isaacs was off and replaced with Harper and Travis Rodney.

Prashad despite only two boundaries and one six reached 46 off of 25 deliveries, with the venerable Deryck Kallicharran stroking the ball very well at the other end. Kallicharran’s approach to the game appeared to be very simple; tuck the ball around and keep the scoreboard ticking, even if it meant only six runs per over. His strategy proved correct, because it kept the Essequibo fielders extremely active and when the faulty deliveries came his way, he dispatched them with the utmost discourtesy to reach a well-made 46 (5x4s, 1x6) off of 30 balls. Prashad and Kallicharran would prove to be the catalysts for Berbice as they pushed the score to 139, before both batsmen departed off of successive deliveries from Shiv Ragubar.

However, with solid contributions of 22 from opener Andrew Gonsalves and 19 from skipper Zamin Amin batting at number six, Berbice reached a respectable total of 165 for 5 in the 20 overs. Ragubar and Harper would share two wickets apiece at a cost of 44 and 25 runs respectively, in addition to Isaacs’ one for 19.

FOW: 33, 47, 52, 139 and 139. Berbice’s total of 165 does not tell the whole story, because had it not been for some ten dropped catches, the score board may have read a miserable 110 runs tops. Essequibo’s undoing was in their catching, however, at the end, there was not much they could have done, except go after whatever score Berbice posted.

Essequibo in reply, were off to a flying start, with runs flying off the willows of Prasad Mahadeo, 46 off 37 balls and Mark Gomes, 39 off 38 deliveries. The opening stand between the two must have been cause for concern in the Berbice camp. Mahadeo was the more aggressive of the two, with Gomes content to nip and tuck his way around the field. Mahadeo was the first to depart via a fantastic bit of fielding by Zamin Amin, striking the stumps with a direct hit and from some thirty yards away in the area of backward point.

Skipper Balwant, on whose shoulders rested a lot, had an early exit after only five deliveries, caught off the bowling of Deryck Kallicharran for a single. Essequibo, despite Gomes hanging in until the fifth wicket to fall, crumbled, losing seven wickets for a miserly 58 runs, since their strong opening stand of 83 in 10 overs.

With such a solid start, Essequibo was well on their way to creating a major upset in their debut. However, Berbice with the likes of Amin, Deryck Kallicharran and Bhim George, were not yet ready for the fat lady to take center stage.

Karran Ganesh 4-0-21-2, Deryck Kallicharran 4-0-20-1, Amin 4-0-33-1 and George 3.3-0-22-3 would ensure Berbice was in the final to meet the waiting Demerara.

FOW: 83, 89, 97, 111, 111, 129, 138, 139, 141 and 141. Final scores Berbice 165 for 5 in 20 overs, Essequibo 141 all out in 19.3 overs.

Berbice vs. Demerara
Demerara led by USA national skipper Steve Massiah was waiting in the wings for Berbice, having earned a bye as 2006 champions, when they defeated Berbice.

Demerara won the toss and elected to take first strike, keeping Berbice in the field a bit longer, without much of a rest between their earlier clash with Essequibo and now, their nemesis Berbice. Debo Sankar, a household name among the runs in the New York area was off to a confident start, scoring 15 off 10 deliveries, before Marlon Kallicharran brilliantly stumped him.

Zaheer Sadloo and skipper Steve Massiah came together adding 42 runs for the third wicket. Massiah, 28 off 22 balls and Sadloo, 26 off an equal number of deliveries, were Demerara’s top scorers. Other contributors were Imran Ali, 16, Syed Mohammed, 12 and Shameer Sadloo, 10, in an otherwise very disappointing performance by the defending champions Demerara.

Included in the Demerara XI but not allowed to bat amongst the first seven, was Qayaam Farrouq, a player with a decent track record and runs to support it. Farrouq’s relegation to the tail-enders group did not go unnoticed, as well as the omission of Melroy Kingston and Swanscot Benjamin, two faces that should have played a role in the Demerara XI. As most pundits tend to do after a disappointing loss by their favorite teams, the questions did flow, sometimes following a line of logic defined only by common sense.

Faroouq selected as a batsman should have batted within the top six. Benjamin, although not the prolific scorer that he ought to be, is dependable in the shorter version of the game and should have been considered. Why Melroy Kingston was left out of the squad after being invited and his selection strongly supported? These are some of the questions being asked of skipper Massiah.

Thus, the Demerara defense of its 2006 title left much to be desired of a squad led by the skipper of the United States national team. Steve Massiah’s leadership has come under severe scrutiny lately; his leadership, not his ability as a cricketer, although his appetite for wanting to win it all by himself at times, is questionable, at best.

Leadership is not only about excelling at that for which you were first considered. It is more than just being a good cricketer. It is about your inter-personal relationship with those you lead, and your ability to bring out the best in them. To lead by example is not only to lead in the number of runs made, or number of wickets taken. It is your ability to go beyond those tenets and effectively coerce a group to consistently win as a team.

FOW: 18, 60, 79, 110 and 130. D. Kallicharran, T. Pooran and K. Ganesh, each enjoyed one Demerara wicket for 16, 20 and 30 runs respectively.

With Demerara posting up a 6.5 r.p.o. asking rate, Berbice was intent on taking advantage of the offer, and they did. Marlon Kallicharran and Amirnauth Ramcharitar came out smoking, ripping off 71 runs from Demerara, before separating. Kallicharran’s 38 (5x4s) off 27 deliveries added to the player’s pedigree as a Twenty20 fighter more so than the longer versions of the game. At the other end, Ramcharitar was adding 32 nails into the coffin of Demerara.

Andrew Gonsalves, 24 n.o. off 15 balls, Kawall Prashad, 23 off 12 balls, along with a modest contribution of 11 n.o. (2x4s) from Deryck Kallicharran, was all Berbice needed to close out the victory and the 2007 New York Guyana Inter-County championship.

FOW: 71, 75 and 106. Shameer Sadloo and Zaheer Saffie were responsible for the two Demerara wickets to fall via catches held on to by the Demerara fieldsmen. Berbice 133 for 3 off 17.5 overs in reply to Demerara’s 130 for 6 in 17 overs was the final statement.

Steve Massiah’s decision to open the new ball himself got off to a not so friendly start, resulting in 12 runs and combined with Deryck McDonald’s first over at the other end tallied up 22 runs. Massiah would take off McDonald after one over (10 runs), replacing him with Ramphal Bactowar whose three overs posted 6, 16 and 9 runs respectively. With the exception of Sadloo and Saffie’s one wicket each, Massiah’s personal bowling effort of 4-0-25-0 was not helped by his remaining support cast of bowlers; McDonald, Bactowar and Kumar Nandalall whose combined total of 7.5-0-61-0 with an average of 8.13 runs per over, was hardly the way to defeat Berbice. The 2007 champions coached by Sew Shivnarine and managed by Amar Prashad were only required to score slightly north of 6.5 overs to ensure the 2007 championship title was theirs.

Four cricket bats and a trophy were donated as outstanding performance awards by Ms. Nalini Singh, Jimmy Baichan, Nazeer Mohammed, Mr. Stovall and Mr. Seenarine. Those presented with 2007 batting and bowling performance awards were Prasad Mahadeo, Zaheer Saffie, Bhim George, Kawall Prashad and Marlon Kallicharran.

Insaf “Birdman” Ali and Two “A’s” Mechanical, Inc., must be congratulated for the grand sponsorship of the tournament, which is likely to become a much-anticipated fixture on the New York cricket calendar. Several people contribute to cricket in the New York area, but few with as much enthusiasm of resources, as Birdman did last Sunday. His efforts should be lauded and fully appreciated by both players and fans.
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