By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
RTW Falcons Curtly Peters avoids being run out as Cavaliers Wicketkeeper, Densford “Babylon” Brown, awaits the ball
RTW Falcons fended off Cavaliers for a thrilling eight run Sunday afternoon victory in Greenland, during a battle between teams losing their respective openers of the BVI Cricket Association’s Peter Haycraft Ten10 Cup last week.
It’s an unusual 0-2 start in any format of BVICA play for Cavaliers, who have had a lock on more championship appearances than any other team. After winning the toss, they sent the RTW Falcons to the crease and slowed their progress taking the first two wickets for 33. Then Gary Prince and Austin McDowall strung together a 55-run third wicket partnership before Prince was caught by Jagnarine “Suga” Persaud for 49. McDowall could only add another 18 runs with Curtly Peters who had 14 not out, as the RTW Falcons reached 131 for 6 in their 10 overs, to even their record at 1-1.
Cavaliers’ bowlers Dhanpaul Chrisnanand and Avishkar Sewkarran snatched 2 for 32 and 2 for 27 respectively.
When they began their chase, Cavaliers Captain Gavin Hitnarine was run out before he could swing his bat for his second duck in as many games. Sewkarran then had a 96-run recovery partnership with Trevis Dookharan for the second wicket, before he was stumped for 55. Dookharan went on to get a contributing 36 before he was caught by Prince and Dhanpaul had a supporting 15 not out as Cavaliers settled for 123 for 5.
RTW Falcons Captain Orlando “Facebook” Ollivierre, described it as a “comeback win.” “Last week we lost our first game and we were badly beaten, so we decided that we have to come out strong because Cavaliers is a good team and we wanted to put our best foot forward,” Ollivierre said. “It’s a good feeling to overcome that obstacle.”
Ollivierre said that they have played against Cavaliers players long enough and they know their batsmen and spoke to their bowler about what they should do. “We took away their shots from them and put the ball in the right area,” he said. “This victory is a stepping stone towards the final and winning the tournament again. This is a good feeling. I will enjoy it.”
Hitnarine said that both times they’ve lost chasing and will have to turn around their fortunes by batting first. “We have to work on our game plan and we have to play a comprehensive game—batting, bowling fielding—but sending teams to bat was our strength in the past,” Hitnarine said. “Our record shows that we prefer chasing. It just happened that the last two times it didn’t come off for us, but if we have to chase again, we will back ourselves to win.”
In the afternoon game, Vikings spinner Johnny Bailey ripped through Grenada’s order, bagging 4 for 15, as they went on to a seven-wicket victory after sending them to bat. Opener Derrol Redhead resisted for a defiant 54 not out from 19 balls, but did not get support from the next four batsmen who combined for 18 runs. Middle order batsman Rodaph Davis had a useful knock of 24, but the next four batsmen after him folded under Bailey’s bowling pressure for a paltry four runs. Grenada settled for 107 for 9 in their 10 overs. Vikings bowler Collis Fraser grabbed an additional 2 for 33.
Vikings’ opener Julian Bannet, who had 118 not out last week, was bowled out by Rodney Maryshow for 22 and Davis took Timothy Sookram’s stump for 23. Middle order batsman Rakumar Seepersard had 40 not out, taking the Vikings to 109 for 3 in 7.2 overs, for their second victory.
