Narine, Pooran smash quick centuries in Ganga charity match

The Daren Ganga All Stars (DGAS) team put on a spectacular show for the massive crowd at the Daren Ganga Recreation Ground, Barrackpore, as the “home” side crushed a Brian Lara All Stars (BLAS) squad, by 190 runs in a charity T-20 fixture, yesterday. Brian Lara won the toss and sent the opposing team in to bat first where they posted a significant total of 344 for the loss of three wickets. The DGAS’ openers, Sunil Narine and Nicholas Pooran, made no mistake as they sparked the event by smashing quick centuries, then retired for other batsmen to have a go at the bowlers.

The match was organised by the Daren Ganga Foundation where cricket legends such as Lara, Curtly Ambrose and Ramnaresh Sarwan, lined up alongside current T-20 stars Sunil Narine and Kevon Cooper.

National footballer, Kevin Molino, also got in on the cricket action at the charity event. Some cricket fans had the unique opportunity of getting onto the field-of-play to bat and bowl with these top sporting personalities by making a contribution of $1,200 towards the venture.

Narine stroked a solid 122 runs off 42 balls at the crease, which included 13 sixes and eight fours. Standing at the opposite crease was Pooran, and the young batsman followed Narine’s lead of bamboozling the bowlers, scoring 103 runs off 33 balls. Pooran also recorded 13 sixes in the process, along with four fours. DGAS skipper, Daren Ganga, contributed 58 runs before also retiring. BLAS’ Dominic Edwards took two wickets for 66 runs during the innings.

In response Davindra Maharaj top-scored for BLAS with 48 runs off 32 balls, in a tale which looked over from the start.

Brian Lara went to the crease after the loss of the first wicket, however, he was only able to make 14 runs before being caught by Andre Browne off the bowling of Marcus Samaroo. Kevin Molino smashed a boundary before losing his middle stomp, to a Hamish Maharaj delivery, on 5 runs. The Man-of-the-Match award went to Sunil Narine while Nicholas Pooran secured the Best Batsman award. Hamish Maharaj claimed the Best Bowler award at the charity match..

Daren All Stars:
Daren Ganga, Kevon Cooper, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran, Andrew Rambaran, Sudesh Jagerssar, Marcus Samaroo, Fazil Jahoor, Vashist Persad, Raynan Ramsumair, Hamish Maharaj, Andre Browne, Sham Singh, Suraj Seepaul, Charlie Dwarika, Harrinarine Ganga Persad, Jerome Garib, Dhram Ramgoolam.

Brian All Stars:
Brian Lara, Kuarlal Rampersad, Preston Sam, Rajan Bhagoutie, Mark Ramkisoon, Wendell Manohar, Dominic Edwards, Curtly Ambrose, Akash Pooransingh, Josh Dhanasar, Roland Hosein, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Davindra Maharaj, Kevin Molino, Andy Balkaran, Satish Jairaj, Sandeep Balkaran, Ryan Rambaran.