By Calvin Roberts (Guyana Chronicle)
Ashmead Nedd
BOTH Demerara and Berbice yesterday chalked up commanding second round victories over Essequibo and President’s XI, to set up an interesting third and final round clash in the Guyana Cricket Board/Igloo Under-15 two-day Inter-county tournament, which bowls off tomorrow.
Playing at the Enmore Community Centre ground, defending champions Demerara wasted no time in claiming an innings and 58-run victory over the Cinderella County team, while Berbice recorded a seven-wicket victory over the President’s XI at the Wales Community Centre ground.
At Enmore, Essequibo, who trailed Demerara by 149 runs on first innings after being bowled out for 52 to which their opponents replied with 201 for 2, thanks to unbeaten knocks of 70 and 66 from Kurt Lovell and Alphius Bookie, started the day precariously placed on 35 for 5.
They closed off their innings at 91 for 9 from 48.5 overs, as their last batsman Punraj Colahar was unable to bat, complaining of an upset stomach. They resumed the day on 35 for 5 and needed 114 more runs to make the defending champions bat again.
Orlando Jailall topscored with 35 that included four fours, but apart from Govindra Gobin’s 15 which was scored on the first day, no other batman touched double figures as national left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd claimed 4 for 30 (match figures 6 for 47) and pacer Colin Barlow 2 for 24 (match figures 5 for 27) for Demerara, who completed the win in the morning session.
At Wales, President’s XI, who had conceded a first-innings lead of 73 to Berbice, had wiped off 45 of those runs before the close of the first day when they reached 45 for 2 from 25 overs, a score that they pushed to 117 before being bowled out off 72.5 overs.
Christopher Campbelle took his overnight 24 to 31 which included three fours while Robin Williams struck two fours in his 26, but the other batsmen found the bowling of Kris Ramnarine who took 4 for 32 (6-32) and Kevin Sinclair (2 for 17) and Keon Simpson (2 for 21) too much to handle, as the President’s XI folded cheaply.
Set 45 for victory, Berbice lost Junior Sinclair (3), Daneshwar Budhu (2) and Kevin Sinclair (9), before Steven Deonarine (13*) and Ramnarine (7*) steered them to the win from 22.4 overs, as the President’s XI did not go down easily, having seen Junior Phillips and Azim Ally put up a fight with the ball.
The third and final round will bowl off tomorrow at the Everest and Demerara Cricket Club grounds, with Demerara taking on Berbice at the former ground and President’s XI and Essequibo meeting at the latter ground, with both matches bowling off at 10:00hrs.