Charity Primary secured the Essequibo Zone title in the Future Warriors Tapeball tournament yesterday, defeating Lima Sands Primary by eight wickets at the Anna Regina National Stadium.
The victory earned Charity Primary a place in the national Champion of Champions tournament, scheduled for August/September, where they will join Berbice champions St. Therese Primary and Demerara winners West Ruimveldt Primary.
Chasing 74 for victory, Charity Primary reached 78 for 2 in seven overs to complete the win with an over to spare. Rovaldo Campbell led the chase with an unbeaten 32, while captain Troy Boston supported with 22 in a composed batting effort.
Lima Sands had earlier made 73 for 3 from their allotted eight overs. Kevin Margow top-scored with an unbeaten 22, while Miguel Marcus finished on 16 not out. Nameuel Watson also contributed 11.
Charity’s bowlers kept the scoring under control throughout the innings. Boston led the attack with 1 for 7, while Hafeez Yazidyudin took 1 for 8 and Campbell claimed 1 for 15. For Lima Sands, Marcus picked up 1 for 16 and Margow took 1 for 25.
The result capped a strong campaign for Charity Primary, who were consistent across both batting and bowling during the Essequibo leg of the ExxonMobil Guyana-powered competition.
Boston was later named the zone’s Most Valuable Player after finishing as the leading wicket-taker. He claimed 10 wickets from four matches at an average of 2.50 and an economy rate of 3.12. He also bowled 32 dot balls during the tournament and added 70 runs with the bat.
Lima Sands’ Watson finished as the leading run-scorer of the zone, making 94 runs from four matches at an average of 47.00 and a strike rate of 174.07.
Earlier, Lima Sands had booked their place in the final with a comfortable semi-final win over defending champions C.V. Nunes Primary. Chasing 69, Lima Sands reached the target in 6.1 overs, led by Watson’s unbeaten 26 from 16 balls and Margow’s unbeaten 19.
Charity Primary advanced to the final after restricting Mainstay Lake Primary to 40 and then reaching 41 for 1 in 5.4 overs. Nickel Garraway made 15 not out, while Boston contributed 13.
Mainstay Lake Primary later finished third after pulling off a high-scoring win over 2025 champions C.V. Nunes Primary in the play-off. C.V. Nunes posted 90 for 2, led by Anthony Garraway’s 68 from 20 balls, which included eight sixes and four fours.
Mainstay Lake responded with 91 for 2 with three balls remaining. Jared Charles led the chase with an unbeaten 59 from 26 balls, hitting eight sixes to guide his team to victory.
The top four schools in the Essequibo Zone received equipment bags, agility kits and electronic scoring tablets. The use of digital scoring is part of the tournament’s effort to expose young players to match data and modern scoring systems from the grassroots level.
The Champion of Champions tournament will carry an added incentive, with the winning school set to earn a novelty fixture against the Caribbean Premier League’s Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Essequibo Zone also featured Riverstown, Taymouth Manor, Hampton Court, Good Hope, Sparta, Huis T’ Dieren, Onderneeming, Fisher, Friendship, Capoey and Suddie Primary.
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