Igloo Ice Cream Inter-County U-15 Cricket…

By Sean Devers

Demerara successfully defended their Igloo Ice-Cream under-15 Inter-County two-day cricket title when their final round game against Berbice ended in a draw yesterday at Everest.

Bermine’s 14-year-old right-hander Steve Deonarine hit an unbeaten 55 from 142 balls with three fours to see Berbice, set 260 to win from just under two sessions, to 132-5 when bails were lifted. Demerara reached 166-8 from the allotted 57 overs just after Lunch from their overnight 102-6.
At one stage it appeared that Demerara, who finished with 43 points, would have won the game outright but Deonarine, who hails from Guyana’s oldest Town, New Amsterdam, remained unconquered at the end for Berbice, who ended with 38 points.

Scores: Demerara (186-5 & 166-8) Berbice (92 & 132-5)
Overnight and early morning showers delayed the start of play by an hour and 15 minutes and Demerara reached 137-7 from 21 overs on the final day.
Reiz Alli (9) fell to left-arm spinner Kris Ramnarine at 127-7 just before the interval, while the only other Demerara wicket to fall yesterday was Sagar Hathiramani who choked himself as he tried to pull a high full one from pacer Junior Williams and spooned a catch to mid-on.

Hathiramani departed for 36 with three fours and his demise left the hosts 164-8. Bhojnarine Singh (13*) and Carl Barlow (5*) were still there when the allotted 57 overs expired, three overs after Lunch. Javeed Karim had 2-9 and Ramnarine 2-35.

In hot conditions, a sprinkling of spectators saw Berbice openers Kevin Sinclair and Surrendra Budoo give their team a solid start of 19 before Budoo (11) was forced to retire hurt after being hit on his instep by pacer Bhojnarine Singh, who soon removed Kevin Sinclair for 10 at 22-1.

Another wicket fell to pacer Anthony Antonio at 30-2 before Karim was caught and bowled by Hathiramani for a duck without addition to the score. Budoo returned but was soon LBW to Hathiramani for 22 at 48-4.

Kevion Anderson (22) retired hurt after bruising his elbow when he dived to avoid being run out at 97-4 and Seon Glasgow joined the well set Deonarine. The pair almost took their team to the close before Glasgow was run out of the last ball of the game.

Meanwhile, in the other match at DCC, the President’s X1 beat last placed Essequibo (11 points) by 156 runs after resuming the final day on 71-1.
Mark Ramsammy added just one to his overnight 25, while Christopher Campbell took his first innings 25 to 32 before Robin Williams scored an unbeaten 41 decorated with four boundaries as the President’s X1, who made 173-6 off their allotted 68 overs to finish third on the points table ended with 25 points.

Essequibo were then bowled out for 89 from 66 overs with nobody reaching 20. Stephon Wilson and Khemchand Hardyal had three wickets each.
At the presentation GCB Secretary Anand Sanasie praised Sterling Products Limited, producers of Igloo Ice Cream, for the willingness to sponsor the tournament at the last moment and congratulated the Defending champs for retaining their crown.

Igloo’ representative Shane Cummins said his company is always ready to sponsor sporting events. GCB Competitions Committee Chairman Colin Europe told the gathering, which included all four teams, that the rules of this competition were the ones being used at the Regional U-15 level in July.

All the players were treated to Igloo Ice cream and Sanasie commended the Kaieteur News team of Sean Devers and Zaheer Mohamed, who was one of the Umpires for the match, for excellent coverage of the competition. Devers was awarded the $25, 000 prize after being adjudged the best reporter.