A fierce penultimate round of the Jaguars Franchise League ended with two teams recording victories on the third and final day, while the other two matches ended in draws. Upper Corentyne and Georgetown were the two teams to score big wins in this round.
At the Imam Bacchus ground in Essequibo, East Coast batsmen Chandrapaul Hemraj, who made the tournament’s first double century and teenage prodigy Bhaskar Yadram, who scored his second century of the match, led their side to a mammoth total of 468-3.
The discarded national player Hemraj, finished unbeaten on 250 after smashing 19 fours and 17 gigantic sixes, while Yadram follow up his first innings knock of 118, with a superb 121 which consisted of 14 fours and two sixes. Kamesh Yadram was also unbeaten on 56 when play ended. East Coast Demerara resumed the day on 2/1 but registered such a healthy score after Hemraj teamed up with Bhaskar Yadram and his older brother. Kamesh Yadram for two double century stands worth 232 and 207 respectively. Bowling for Essequibo, Keemo Paul had 2/90.
At the Everest Cricket Club ground, Upper Corentyne destroyed East Bank Demerara by 209 runs after the latter were dismissed for 202 chasing 412 for victory in the fourth innings.
Steven Jacobs finally showed form with the bat to hit his side top score of 61 while promising teenager Ershaad Ali scored 33. Marrk Rhobe (29) and Stephan Harris (25 not out), were the other contributors. Bowling for Upper Corentyne, former Guyana under-19 captain, Shawn Perreira, bagged 6/55 while Eon Hooper 3/74 was once again a tormentor for the opposition.
At Cumberland ground in Berbice, West Berbice resuming on 112/2 rallied to score 361 chasing 439 for victory. Avishwar Sewkarran compiled a top score of 82 and Steffon Adams struck 81, Kevin Jawahir made 60, Leon Andrews 33 and Brentnol Woolford 22 were the other batsmen to offer resistance.
Bowling for Georgetown, their most consistent performer, Christopher Barnwell 3/51 led the way with the ball while there were two wickets each for Sunil Singh, Devon Lord, Gajanan Suknanan.
At Tuschen ground, Lower Corentyne in their second innings, were bowled out for 221 in 61 overs. Devon Clements followed up his unbeaten century in the first innings with another important innings of 77 which included 10 fours and three sixes. His knock helped tournament leaders, Lower Corentyne, to post a lead of 217. Royston Crandon and Jonathan Foo supported with 33 and 30 respectively.
West Demerara requiring 218 for victory in a minimum of 46 overs, were left stranded on 163/5 off 37.3 overs when the match was called off with 10 minutes remaining in the days play. Raymon Reifer and Tagenarine Chanderpaul both struck 52. Bowling for Lower Corentyne, Royston Crandon took 5/60.
The seventh and final round is slated for Friday, October 7, 2016. Georgetown will take on Upper Corentyne, Lower Corentyne will battle with West Berbice, East Coast will clash with East Bank, and West Demerara will meet Essequibo.
(Taken from Guyana Times)