By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
Vikings and Royal Knights will rely on their bowlers to contain each other’s bats
An afternoon of fireworks is expected when Royal Knights, seeking their first BVI Cricket Association Peter Haycraft Ten10 Cup title and completing an unbeaten run, clash with the Vikings in Sunday’s final at the Greenland Grounds.
They will face off at 2:30 p.m. after defending champs RTW Falcons and Grenada play in the third placed game at 12:30 p.m.
When they met unbeaten on Nov 16, Royal Knights flogged the Vikings by nine wickets and entered the final with a 6-0 record while the Vikings are 5-1.
Yohann Lazema said that Royal Knights—who lost to the RTW Falcons in last year’s final— doesn’t take it lightly that they had beaten the Vikings in the first round and winning the cup would be a great achievement for his team. “When you put in the work as a team, as a unit, you expect to get the results and nothing less than lifting the title,” he said. “I know it has been a while since we have achieved that and I think that this is the right time and the opportunity has presented itself once again for us being in a final to be able to lift that trophy, and I think it would mean a lot to us.”
Vikings captain Deco Khemraj said playing in the final after winning the BVICA’s T20 title earlier in the year, is another achievement for his club in the same year. “It’s an amazing feeling for the guys, encouragement, something to be achieved again at the end of the year again, as the Vikings Cricket Club to be in another final,” he said. “I was hard work, dedication put into it to get there.”
Khemraj said that it would be another achievement for the Vikings to lift the cup and give his team a second title after winning the T30 final earlier this year. “An opportunity presents itself to the Vikings again and it’s going to take us very far going into the new year with a championship and seeing the hard work that we put into it in practice paying off,” he said. “So we need another championship badly.”
BVICA president Richard Francis said Vikings’ quest is to do something that hasn’t been done in one of their tournaments. “We wish them all the best,” he said. “Royal Knights, to my understanding, are seeking their first title in any of our formats in the last six to seven years. So I think there’s a lot on the line for both teams. We will be having two exciting, hard hitting explosive contests that will go down to the wire.”
