By:Curtis Morton
The finals in the Keith Arthurton/Windsor/Nagico T-20 tournament was held at the Conaree grounds on Sunday 4th December.
The Newtown Cricket team came up against the Pennyless All-stars Cricket club in another battle of the narrows.
The Newtown team batted first and were soon in trouble with West Indies under 19 selectee, Kian Pemberton, running riot amongst the early batsmen.
His first delivery literally flew off the pitch and struck the batsman somewhere on his shoulder and went flying away for leg byes.
His second delivery, another snorter, again stuck up the batsman and took a fine edge through to the wicket keeper.
Another shorter ball saw the dismissal of the other opener and then a full pitched delivery saw the back of the prized scalp of Junie Mitchum, as he dragged it back onto his stumps.
Not long after that, it was more celebrations for the All-stars men, as tournament runs leader, Esroy Powell,, flicked sweetly to leg, only to see a tumbling Jason Campbell coming up with a superb catch at backward of square.
It took a herculean effort from the experienced Steve Liburd to stem the flow of wickets as he led a counterattack which included a number of huge maximums. He was assisted by Jason Saddler who also batted superbly for his 33 runs.
In the end, Liburd was yet another prized scalp for the 17 year old speedster, as he returned to bowl the final over and Jason Campbell took a swirler, to send him packing.
Newtown ended with a challenging 150 for 8 in their 20 overs and Kian Pemberton had the incredible figures of 5 wickets for 11 runs from his four overs.
The All-stars men were soon in early trouble, as Steve Liburd bowled the aggressive Jamie Cornelius for a one ball duck but Saeed Williams played a cameo, ably assisted by Ross Powell and they soon took the game away from the Newtown team.
However, once they were both dismissed and with Esroy Powell adding a few well directed bouncers of his own, the game was soon interestingly poised, with All -stars losing some crucial wickets.
However, at the end, it was a confident Akito Willet and Jason Campbell who were at the crease to see the All-stars team safely over the line and collecting the coveted trophy from the man himself, Keith Lloyd Thomas Arthurton.
Summarized scores: Newtown 150 for 8 from 20: Steve Liburd 74; Jason Saddler 33
Kian Pemberton 5 for 11; Akito Willet 2 for 27 and Junie Williams 1 for 18
Pennyless All-stars 153 for 4: Saeed Williams 55; Ross Powell 34; Akito Willet 25*; Tonito Willet 15; Jason Campbell 7*
Kevin Hanley 2 wickets; Steve Liburd and Kevin Hanley 1 wicket each
Pennyless All-stars won by 6 wickets