By Morris Seecharan
Last Sunday Sunrise took on Triumph at Garrison Park in Brooklyn in a crucial semi final game in the 15 over knock out competition.  After winning the toss Sunrise Captain Deryck Basdeo had a meeting with his team and decided to send in Triumph to bat. G. Pooran opening for Triumph facing Kalif Salim of Sunrise drilled the 1st delivery to square leg which went racing to the boundary.

Ryan Ramjas had 6 wickets for 8 runs. Photos by Loretta Cheong

In the next deliver Kalif had Pooran popped up at short mid off for a sweet revenge.  R. Bindnarine batting at #2 was joined by Boodram Deopaul and came together with constructive batting as they composed a partnership building a competitive score. Shane Manbodh introduced in the 5th over was penetrating as he clean bowled Bindnarine for 12 with the score 26 for 2. R. Ramnauth joined Boodram and Shane who continued bowling on target had Ramnauth caught for 7 with score 38 for 3 in the 7th over.

Sunrise bowlers were bowling tight as Ricardo joined Boodram the only Triumph batsman that stood around.  Ryan Ramjas bowling at #4 in his first deliver had Ricardo caught at point brilliantly by young Alex Hussein, and in his last deliver of this over he took out Boodram for 13 with Alex settling under and taking another spectacular catch at square point.

Ryan at this moment in the game left the Triumph team in shambles as the score read 56 for 5 in 11 over. In the next over Y. Kinar hit the stump after a stroke and was gone as Ryan Ramjas came right back had B. Singh caught at point and again Alex taking the catch. Alex pairing up with Ryan and taking 3 important catches of his bowling was the key in turning the pressure on Triumph as the score reads 57 for 7 in the 13th over.

Ryan in his 3rd over and first delivery knock down the stump of R. Singh, 4th delivery had K. Heeralall stumped by Wahab, and in his 5th delivery bowled Deryck. The closed the curtain on Triumph and their players were left deranged with this sudden collapsed of their team losing their last 6 wickets for 15 runs with Ryan the danger man taking 5 of the 6 dismissing Triumph for 65 runs in 14.5 overs.

Young Alex Hussein took 3 catches in the game.

Ryan bowled a gem of game and which was key in taking out Triumph as he lead his team with the brilliant bowling figure 6 for 8 in 2.5 over. Shane Manbodh continued with his poised bowling as he took 2 for 9 in 3 overs.

Roopnarine Dayal and Ryan Ramjas open hoping that their batting offensive will match their team superb defensive bowling performance. However in the 3rd over things went haywire as Ryan was sent back to the pavilion run out with the score at 2. Harris Khemlall joined Dayal and runs were scare to come as Boodram, Bindnarine and Ricardo meant to make it difficult for Sunrise batsmen to reach their target. In the 5th over Boodram bowled Dayal for 12 with the score 14 for 2. At this point Sunrise was scoring a mean 3 runs per over. In the next over Harris was caught off the bowling of Ricardo with the score at 19 and it seems like it was a daunting task for Sunrise to reach their target.

With wickets falling and the required run rate increasing Sunrise captain needed a batsman to explode. Deryck had the confidence in Shane Manbodh and sent him to face G. Pooran who was bowling his first over. Shane hammered Pooran first delivery to deep cover for six as the Sunrise players exhale with enthusiasm as Shane would hammer Pooran’s 3rd and 4th delivery for a four and six.

Shane Manbodh hit an unbeaten 35.

Shane knock Pooran for 21 runs and out of the bowling rotation as he double Sunrise score to 42 in one over. Shane showed no mercy on Triumph bowlers as the ball was pooping off his bat racing to the boundary. Kalif batting with Shane was over shadow but Kalif was picking up his score contributing with timely boundary as well.

With Shane batting like power home run hitter he brought joy to his teammate lifting them as he raced away with the score tying Triumph total of 65. Since all the attention was  on Shane Kalif took the opportunity to steal this show ending this game with towering six at deep long on as they win Triumph making 71 in 9.4 overs with the loss of 3 wickets.

Shane staunched batting performance was pivotal in sealing this win for Sunrise with a power knock of 35 runs not out. Kalif Salim 12 not out and his 52 runs partnership with Shane with no doubt solidified the favorable outcome for Sunrise as well.