GCB/Dave West Indian Imports and Exports U-15 Inter-county…
ꟷ President’s XI roll over Essequibo
Story and photos by Brandon Corlette
A fine all-round effort from Berbice Under-15 player Salim Khan ensured the Berbicians brush aside arch-rivals Demerara, by 64 runs in their second-round match of the inter-county tourney at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.
In a match, which was affected by rain around 15:00h and was graced by the presence of Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) President Hilbert Foster, Berbice looked a dominant outfit against their counterparts.
With the pitch not being conducive to batting, Berbice won the toss and took first strike, scoring 140-7 when the 50 overs expired. Khan, batting at number eight, top-scored with an unbeaten 39, including four boundaries, to push his team to a decent total on a difficult batting turf. In addition to Khan, West Indies U-16 player and Berbice skipper Rampertab Ramnauth offered resistance with a shot-filled 27, which included four boundaries.
Earlier, Berbice lost opener Avishkar Persaud for a duck with the score on 2-1. Ramnauth then dominated a second-wicket partnership of 41 runs with Rashaad Gafur, who had only three runs. It was a slow approach for Berbice, but the batsmen held on despite losing Sanjay Algoo (00); Kevin Kisten (05); Zadeem Larose (06) and Damion Cecil (14) cheaply. At 101-7 after 40 overs, Khan and Matthew Pottaya (14*) joined forces and took the score to 140, ending the innings with an unbroken 39-run partnership.
Bowling for Demerara, Alex Daterdeen bagged 4-23 in nine overs, while Hemraj Harrichand had 2-29.
In Demerara’s reply, they lost an early wicket with the score at 4-1, in the form of Romeo Deonarine (0). The Berbice bowlers kept it tight for a majority of the innings. Wayvell Allen, batting at number 10, top-scored with 15 while Ryan Latif made 13. The rain came down upon Lusignan at 15:00h with Demerara on 41-5 after 28 overs.
The match then restarted at 15:40h and Berbice promptly wrapped up the innings. Khan capped off his dream game with 3-17 in 5.2 overs while Guyana U-15 player and fellow off-spinner, Pottaya had 3-22 in 10 overs. Leg-spinner Algoo had 2-12 in six overs in a collective bowling effort. Demerara were eventually bowled out for 96 in 40.2 overs.
Meanwhile, at Everest, the President’s XI steamrolled Essequibo by eight wickets. Batting first, Essequibo made 147 all out in 37 overs. Adesh Dass top-scored with 46 and Shazif Mohammed made 32. Player of the Match Stephon Sankar impressed with 4-25 in 10 overs to set up the match.
In reply, the President’s XI ended with 148-2 in 40.5 overs. Afazul Kadir made 40 and Sankar returned with the bat to score an unbeaten 25 to lead his team home by a comfortable eight-wicket margin.
The tournament will continue on Thursday, February 20, with Demerara playing the President’s XI at GCC Bourda and Essequibo playing an undefeated Berbice at Lusignan.
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