DEFENDING champions Berbice underlined their supremacy in this year’s Guyana Cricket Board/Raj Singh Insurance Under-19 Inter-county three day tournament, with an innings and 100 runs victory over Essequibo at the Enmore Community Centre ground, yesterday, to regain their title.
Demerara’s tormentor with the ball, Sagar Hetheramani displays the red cherry he used to torment their batsmen on his way to snaring 6 for 59
With the win, the Berbicians stamped their authority on all teams, to chalk up a 3-0 record in the three day format of the tournament, following their innings victory over the National Under-17 in the first round and 217 runs win over a hapless looking Demerara lineup in the second.
Scores in the match, Essequibo 139 and 92, Berbice 331.
At the Everest Cricket Club ground, Demerara who resumed the day on 53 without loss with Shurfane Rutherford on 30 and Ronaldo Renee 17, in reply to the National Under-17’s 251 all out, hung on for a draw, ending the rain interrupted day on 219 for 9 off 77 overs.
At Enmore, Berbice resumed the day on 273-7 and were bowled out for 331 in reply to Essequibo’s 139 for a lead of 192, thanks to some solid contributions from their overnight batsmen in Daniel Lewis and Ritesh Omroa.
Lewis, who was on 27 overnight and Omroa (34), posted their half centuries within the first hour of play and took their eighth wicket partnership to 100, before Essequibo removed Omroa who was lbw to Keemo Paul for 51 (121balls, 2×4).
Looknauth Chinkoo (1 for 37) and Keanu Harry ensured Joel Seetaram (02) and Grisean Grant’s stay at the wicket were short, removing them both via the lbw route to leave Lewis, who was later adjudged Man of the Match, unbeaten on 67 (131 balls, 6×4) as Berbice posted 331 for a sizeable lead of 192.
Akini Adams finished with 4 for 48 and got support from Keanu Harry who took 2 for 62 in the bowling department for the team from the Cinderella County, who got a positive start of 46 from openers Nathan Persaud (19, 3×4) and Parmesh Parsotam (25, 4×4) in their second innings.
But when Parsotam was adjudged lbw to Leon Andrews (1 for 15), no other Essequibian batsman apart from Chinkoo, who made 10 batting at number 10, reached double figures, as Lewis (4-11), Kassim Khan (3-9) and Seetaram (2-19) dismissed the remaining nine batsmen for 46.
At Camp Road, Rutherford and Renee started cautiously when play got underway at 12:00hrs, after water from the fore-day morning rain, caused a seepage just in front of the popping crease at the Atlantic Ocean End of the pitch.
Not to be deterred by the delayed start, the Under-17 took three wickets before the luncheon period, removing Renee (17, 2×4), Tevin Imloch (02) and Rutherford for 60 (77 balls, 8×4), thanks to the bowling of Sagar Hetheramani who ended with 6 for 59 from 29 overs of controlled off spin.
Prior to the first session slide which saw Demerara slipping from 56 for 1 to 66 for 2, Rutherford posted his first half century of the tournament from 60 balls and 165 minutes batting with six fours, before he was caught at slip by Timothy McAlmont off Hetheramani just before the luncheon interval.
When play resumed after the break, both Hetheramani and Ashmead Nedd (1 for 33) befuddled the batsmen as they bowled in tandem, while the National Under-17 lineup conceded 28 runs and took the wicket of Chetnarine Pooran (00) who was bowled by Hetheramani.
Nedd had the opportunity to remove Akshaya Persaud when he was on 25 and Demerara 116 for 4, but Romaine Munniram at extra cover grassed the simplest of chances just before the tea break which Demerara took at 129 for 4 with Akshaya Persaud on 31 and Travis Persaud 7.
Akshaya Persaud was the first to go on the resumption, when he was caught by Adrian Sukhwah off a slower ball from Joshua Jones (2 for 45) at 137 for 5, which became 144 for 6 when Jones induced Travis Persaud (13) to edge one to his opposite number Ronaldo Ali-Mohammed at slip.
Malcolm Hubbard, who pulled a no ball from Jones for six over mid-wicket with disdain and Ershad Alli (15, 2×4) added 32 for the seventh wicket before Alli offered no shot from a wrong one from Hetheramani and was bowled.
Shortly after, Hubbard was caught by Ali-Mohammed at slip off Hetheramani for 32 (46balls, 2×4; 1×6) to hand the bowler his fifth wicket before Daniel Basdeo tamely became victim number sixth when he too was bowled with a wrong one for 2 at 196 for 9.
Faced with the herculean task of keeping out the bowlers for 8.5 overs, Carlton Jacques and Mark Hamilton did just that to deny their opponents first innings points as their team finished on 219 for 9 off 77 overs, with their individual contributions being 9 (1×4) and 18 respectively.
Hetheramani finished with 6 for 59, but for his first innings haul of 4 for 43 backed by his topscore of 60, Rutherford was dutifully named Man of the Match, as all four teams turn their attention to the limited overs version of the tournament which bowls off today.
(Taken from Guyana Chronicle)