A masterful unbeaten century from an exhausted Seon Hetmyer who shared in a 131 sixth-wicket stand with Man-of-the-Match Royston Crandon (75) staged an excellent fight-back to power Lower Corentyne, New Amsterdam, Canje to a 121-run win against Upper Corentyne in an all Berbice final of the Cricket Guyana Inc 50-over Local Franchise League on Saturday at the Albion ground.
Man-of-the-Match Royston Crandon receives his trophy from GCB Assistant Administrator, Melinda Bishundyal-Chaitram
The 24-year-old Hetymer stroked a magnificent unbeaten 100 from 137 balls with four fours and two sixes, while Crandon’s entertaining 75 lasted 94 balls and was decorated with three sixes and four fours, before Crandon returned with the ball to take 6-26.
The pair joined forces in the fifth over with their team clinging on for dear life on 31-5 to take them to a respectable 255 all out off the last ball of their 50 overs.
They then dismissed Upper Corentyne for 134 from 32.3 overs despite a top score of 25 from Joshua Ramsammy, 16 from the tournaments leading run-scorer Jonathon Foo, and 15 each from Anthony Bramble and Lloydel Lewis as Crandon did the damage with the ball for the Champions who collected $500,000 and a Trophy.
In bright sunshine, Clinton Pestano worked up good pace on the a track which offered bounce and ‘carry’ with the new ball but was still very good for batting, to blow away the top order with four wickets in two overs to leave Lower Corentyne, NA, Canje in a deep hole.
After the lively former Guyana youth pacer got rid of Hakeem Hinds (0), Eugene LaFleur (6), former First-Class left-hander Gajanand Singh (0) and Jomal LaFleur (15), Skipper Assad Fudadin, who extracted bounce from the helpful surface, removed Devon Clements for a duck.
It had looked promising when Jomel LaFleur got going with two boundaries off Pestano but the first five batsmen all fell to catches behind wicket before Crandon, the younger brother of National Coach Esaun Crandon and Hetmyer, the older brother of West Indies under-19 opener Shimron Hetmyer joined forces to stage ‘operation rebuild’ with a fantastic exhibition of responsible stroke play once they survived the first eight overs.
At 31-5 it looked like the contest was heading for an early finish but Hetmyer, batting with the ‘flu’ and the more aggressive Crandon ensured that the bowlers had to work hard for success and when Hetmyer was floored off of Foo the pendulum was starting to swing.
The partnership flourished as Hetmyer backed away to Eon Hopper and cut him for four before stroking Fudadin sweetly past mid-off for a boundary.
Crandon changed gears and pulled Shawn Pereira for consecutive sixes and reached his 50 with an effortless six off Sharaz Ramcharran with landed just below the Commentry booth. His half-century took 75 balls and included three fours and three sixes before Crandon was bowled by Foo at 162-6.
Veerasammy Permaul (9) and Kevin Ramdeen (17) were both removed by Foo to leave the score on 209-8.
But Hetmyer was far from done and when Pestano returned for a second spell the stylish right-hander who plays for Young Warriors dumped him for a nonchalant six to show why he was regarded as a better batsman than his brother as a youth player.
Hetmyer reached his 50 from 87 balls with four fours and then slog swept Foo onto the scoreboard and, in Rohan Kanhai fashion, fell flat on his back as the ball sailed over the boundary much to the delight of a disappointing turn out.
Clearly exhausted Hetmyer played the innings of his life as he returned to his best form when it mattered most for himself and his team. He joined Foo, Kemo Paul, Kandasammy Surujnarine and Danny Naryan as the batsmen with tons in the competition.
Pestano bagged 4-53 and got support from Fudadin (2-32) and Foo (3-64).
When Upper Corentyne began their reply with ‘old’ Reggae, Soca and Chutney music emanating from the sound system they quickly lost Lewis (15), Ramcharran (3) and Jason St Clair (11) before Foo, who hit three fours, fell at 60-4 to start the Crandon show with his dismissal of Fudadin (6) at 63-5.
At the presentation, WICB Director Anand Sanasie apologized for the late switch from a day night game and explained that the Head of the Lights Committee informed that a long list of requirements had to be met on short notice.The Runners Up got $300,000 for the day’s work.
(Taken from Kaieteur News)