Queen’s Park whip PowerGen, storm into T20 Festival final

QUEEN’S Park Cricket Club stormed into the final of the Premiership I CPL/TKR Twenty/20 Festival when they defeated PowerGen Penal Sports Club by six wickets in the second semifinal at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair on March 21.

With Clarke Road United booking their spot in the final with a three-wicket win over Bess Motors Marchin Patriots in the early semifinal on March 21, QPCC wasted little time stamping their authority as they booked their spot.

Sent in to have first strike, group B winners PowerGen struggled to put a challenging total on the board as they were restricted to just 132 for seven.

PowerGen had the worst possible start too, as they lost two wickets in the very first over as Red Force opening batsman Cephas Cooper and Videsh Sookhai were both dismissed for duck.

PowerGen lost a third wicket in the power play when wicket-keeper/batsman Daniel Williams (23 off 14 balls) was dismissed by Jyd Goolie (one for 15). At that stage, PowerGen were on 31 for three in the sixth over.

Captain Akeil Cooper (20) and allrounder Navin Bidaisee (46 off 41) then put on 49 for the fourth wicket before the former was bowled by left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (two for 22). Bidaisee quickly followed his captain to the pavilion as he was dismissed by Bryan Charles (one for 22) in the 16th over as PowerGen slipped to 94 for five.

PowerGen stumbled past 130, with Terrance Hinds (two for 20) stalling their big hitting at the death with the timely wickets of Joshua James (12) and Uthman Muhammad (nine).

QPCC had a stuttering start to their chase, as Kyle Ramdoo (six) and Amir Jangoo (five) fell cheaply to see them slipping to 28 for two by the fourth over.

A pair of West Indies wicket-keeper/batsmen then steadied the ship for QPCC, as Joshua Da Silva (35) and Andre Fletcher (40 off 22) stitched together 58 for the third wicket before the latter became the first of Bidaisee’s two victims.

Da Silva retired hurt in the 12th over. And though Darren Bravo (11) was dismissed two overs later by Bidaisee, QPCC cruised to 133 for four with Goolie finishing on 19 not out. QPCC won comfortably with 28 balls to spare.

The Parkites will play Clarke Road in the Premiership I final from 7 pm on March 22.

Summarised Scores:

POWERGEN – 132/7 from 20 overs (Navin Bidaisee 46, Daniel Williams 23, Akeil Cooper 20; Terrance Hinds 2/20, Akeal Hosein 2/22) vs QPCC – 133/4 from 15.2 overs (Andre Fletcher 40, Joshua Silva 35, Jyd Goolie 19 not out; N Bidaisee 2/29). QPCC won by six wickets.