FOLLOWING an outstanding spell of medium fast bowling from Demerara’s Shurfane Rutherford which rocked Berbice batting early in their innings, the Ancient county team rebounded with an all-round team effort to place their opponents on the back foot at the end of day one of the second round Guyana Cricket Board/Raj Singh Insurance Under-19 three-day Inter-county fixture.The two sides are facing each other at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC).
Berbice, who won the toss and opted to bat first, were shakily placed on 84 for 6, thanks to Rutherford’s 4 for 40, before some late order resistance from Parmanand Ramdan, Kassim Khan, Daniel Lewis and Grisean Grant saw them attain 199.
In their turn at the wicket, Demerara lost wickets easily and cheaply due to some tactical field placing from Berbice skipper Shimron Hetmyer and reached 144 for 7 at the close of play, still looking for 56 more runs for first-innings honours.
At the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, local perennial whipping boys Essequibo were locked in an interesting battle with the National Under-17 team for first innings, after their opponents, on the back of Ashmead Nedd’s 5 for 50, bowled them out for 267, and replied with 34 for 1 at the close.
At GCC, Demerara, through the efforts of Rutherford, struck in the fourth over of the day when Balchand Baldeo (3) was lbw to the right-handed medium pacer who utilised the preparation moisture to good effect, at 12 for 1.
Skipper Shimron Hetmyer and Leon Andrews added 40 for the second wicket, with Andrews hitting Carlton Jacques (0-51) for two fours, while he welcomed Daniel Basdeo into the attack by hitting his first ball for a huge six over long off.
After posting the team’s 50, Andrews 34 (30 balls, 3×4, 1×6) was taken by Ronaldo Renee at second slip off Rutherford, who was previously driven twice along the ground with authority by Hetmyer, who along with Essequibo’s Kemo Paul, had 24 hours earlier returned from the West Indies Under-19 preparatory camp in Barbados.
From 52 for 1, Berbice slipped to 64 for 5, losing the wickets of Hetmyer 18 (22 balls; 3×4) caught by his opposite number Travis Persaud at extra cover driving on the up to Basdeo and Rutherford removed both Ritesh Omrao and Brandon Persaud without scoring in the 12th over.
As the pitch dried out and with Rutherford finishing his quota of six overs for the session, batting became much easier for the visitors, who witnessed Samuel Kishnasammy (5) and Ramdhan add 23 for the sixth wicket, before the former was caught by Jayadev Mana off Basdeo for 5.
Ramdhan and Khan then posted 48 valuable runs for the seventh wicket, before Khan was caught by Malcolm Hubbard off Mana, following which Jacques dropped an easy offer from Khan at midwicket when on 23, off the bowling of Tariq Dharamlall two balls before lunch which was taken with Berbice 138 for 7.
After the break, Demerara took 55 minutes to wrap up the innings but not before Ramdhan got to his and the lone half-century of the contest to date, by hitting Travis Persaud for 4, 6, 6 in one over from 36 balls with four fours and two sixes before holing out to Mark Hamilton at long on, off the final delivery of the over.
Mana and Basdeo finished with 2 for 23 and 31 respectively in support to Rutherford, while Demerara went to tea on 41 without loss with Tevin Imloch on 26 and Renee 9.
But when play resumed, dispite the odd boundaries being scored by the home team batsmen, they lost wickets at regular intervals to some disciplined bowling from the Ancient County youths.
Imloch was lbw to a faster ball from Basdeo in the second over after the break without any addition to his score, at 45 for 1, and Renee, in his attempt to pull at a short delivery from Omar Weatherspoon, succeeded in picking out Brandon Persaud at midwicket, 57 for 2.
Rutherford came in and looked aggressive, hitting Baldeo for six over long off, followed by a sweetly-timed drive off Lewis for 4, before he was brilliantly caught by a diving Ramdhan at extra cover off Lewis for 16, leaving Demerara on 73 for 3.
Akshaya Persaud and his captain Travis Persaud 21 (1×6) pushed the score to 102, before the latter was caught by Hetmyer off Baldeo at 102 for 4, which was later 111 for 6, when Hubbard (4) and Akshaya Persaud (14) were respectively dismissed by Lewis and Baldeo.
Hamilton, in partnership with Basdeo, repaired the damage by adding 33 for the seventh wicket, before the introduction of Andrews to bowl what turned out to be the final over of the day’s play. He accounted for Hamilton, lbw for 13 (2×4) leaving Basdeo unbeaten on 24.
So far, both Baldeo and Lewis have taken 2 wickets each for 34 and 35 runs respectively for Berbice, who will look to wrap up the home team’s innings early today, weather permitting, and grab first innings points.
At DCC, Essequibo batted first and were bowled out for 261, led by Kemo Paul 47 (7×4, 1×6), Parmesh Parsotam 42 (5×4) Nathan Persaud 37 (3×4), Neiland Cadogan 31 (3×6, 2×4), Sachin Persaud 21 (3×4) and 20 from Keanu Harry, after Nathan Persaud and Parsotam had added 78 for the first wicket.
Nedd took 5 for 50 and Sagar Hetheramani 2 for 22 for the National Under-17, who in reply reached 34 for 1 at the close with Raymond Perez on 13 and Adrian Sukhwah 5, having lost Bhaskar Yadram, caught at the wicket by Nathan Persaud off Cadogan for 5.
(Taken from Guyana Chronicle)