Liberty SC won the toss and gave Atlantis the opportunity to bat first, a strategy which proved to be perfect for the day. The men in blue struck early as Terrence Madramootoo picked up two wickets in as many deliveries balls to remove Shaw Mason and Clifford Hamilton both failing to trouble the score. Bowling at the other end Thakur Singh kept things tight with two consecutive maidens.

Vijendra Singh removed the dangerous Henderson Blades (29) and LSC debutant Andy Harrichan then trapped Alex Amsterdam (17) leg before wicket and followed up with a heads up catch on the long off boundary to remove Kavishwar Bridgepaul (4). A brilliant exhibition of ground fielding from Madramootoo resulted in Jason Greaves (22) being run out off a direct hit and Atlantis in tatters at 99 for 6 with 20 overs gone.

Ron Andrews coming in at number seven changed the course of the game, however. Andrew played a swashbuckling innings and capitalized on a few missed opportunities to post an unbeaten 103. His innings containing eight 6’s and 7 fours and along with support from Hugh Craig (27*) took Atlantis to 256 for 7 at the close of the 39 over inning.

Deonarain hit back to back 50’s but his 78 on Sunday was not enough to stop Atlantis CC

The LSC chase got off to a positive start when Marlon Khallicharan pulled Timothy Rodney for 4 off the first ball. Rodney would get immediate revenge as Khallicharan top edge a second attempt to pull two balls later which skied to gully and cost him his inning.  Fellow opener Dilly Khilawan would fall shortly after for 1 and left LSC in some trouble as Deonarain strode to the crease.

Deonarain’s innings got off to a streaky start but found some momentum in his second over at the crease when he hit Rodney for consecutive fours. His innings would take off when he launched a free hit high over long off for 6. Bose Persaud played a typical cameo at the top of the innings with a hard hitting 23 but his departure would be followed shortly after by Imtiaz Hassan (9).

Deonarain would follow up his first 6 with 3 more sixes and 6 fours as LSC made up for lost grounds to get ahead of the required run rate. The men in blue found themselves with half of the required runs in the bag at the 15^th over. The fall of Donarain’s wicket, however, saw a hiccup in the chase and resulted in it eventually falling short.

Madramootoo looked to continue where Deonarain left off but held out to long on after blasting 25. The remaining LSC batsmen succumbed to the pressure of the chase and LSC was bowled out for 197 in the 29^th over.

Liberty will look to rebound against Camelot CC on Sunday 17th June while Atlantis CC will take on the winless Phantoms CC.