By Calvin Roberts (Guyana Chronicle)

UPSETS were the order of the day in the second round of the Guyana Cricket Board-organised and sponsored Under-19 Inter-county 50 overs tournament yesterday, when both President’s XI and Essequibo defeated Demerara and Berbice in their respective matches. At the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, President’s XI restricted Demerara to 216 for 7, despite 90 from Brian Sattaur and 34 from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who added 120 for the first wicket, before replying with 217 for 7 from 49.3 overs, thanks to Sunil Singh’s 53 and Man-of-the-Match Damion Waldron’s resilient 48. At Enmore, Berbice batted first and were bowled out for 229 off 46.3 overs, with Shimron Hetmyer 63, Balchand Baldeo 58 and David Latchaya 37 leading the way, before Essequibo replied with 231 for 5 from 49.1 overs to win by five wickets. This was mainly due to 57 from Shivendra Hemraj and 53 each from skipper Kemo Paul and Ricardo Peters, while Ryan Adams supported with an unbeaten 14, even though Parmanand Ramdhan took 2 for 44 for Berbice. Chanderpaul and Sattaur started cautiously for Demerara, who lost their opening game against Berbice by four runs the previous day, to post 120 from 35.1 overs, before Chanderpaul who struck three fours in his 104-ball innings, pushed a delivery back into the waiting hands of Ronaldo Mohammed (3 for 33). Sattaur continued for his team, plundering nine fours and three sixes off the 121 balls he faced for his 90, but when he was well set to record the first ton of the tournament, he was adjudged lbw to Waldron at 162 for 4 in the 44th over. Some lusty hitting from Clevon McEwan 22 and Steven Sankar who made an unbeaten 22 that was laced with two fours and a six off Ershad Ali, pushed Demerara to their final total after Sattaur’s dismissal. In reply, Singh and Ryan Shun gave President’s XI a solid start of 67, before Shun was lbw to Sankar’s first delivery for 19 (3×4), but Singh continued to fight to post his 50 from 48 balls with five fours, before he was caught down the leg side by Kemol Savory two balls later, for 53, off Shurfane Rutherford. A 74- run sixth-wicket partnership between Waldron 48 (85 balls, 5×4) and Kelvin Shewprasad 26, steered President’s XI closer to victory before they were both dismissed, with Shewprasad being caught by Rutherford off McEwan and a Chanderpaul direct hit accounting for Waldron. Nevertheless, President’s XI scraped to victory off the third ball of the final over which was bowled by Rutherford and put away by Yenkini Favourite (1), who had Gavin Moriah unbeaten on 12 at the non-striker’s end, despite McEwan’s 2 for 32 and Rutherford’s 2 for 44. At Enmore, Hetmyer, Baldeo and Latchaya defied the bowling of Akil Wallace who took 3 for 55, along with Paul and Akini Adams’ two wickets each for 36 and 33 runs respectively to post what seem like a good total. But Hemraj (4×4), Peters (7×4, 1×6) and Paul who also struck six fours and one six in their respective innings, aided by Ryan Adams’ positive and unbeaten 14 that included two fours, guided Essequibo to 231 for 5 from 49.1 overs. The preliminary round of the tournament will conclude tomorrow with President’s XI facing Berbice at Everest while Demerara and Essequibo will collide at Enmore, following which the two top teams will meet in Sunday’s final at GCC.