Hetmyer’s ton steers NA/Canje into final   
THANKS to Shimron Hetmyer’s 118, New Amsterdam/Canje reached the final of the 2011 Berbice Cricket Board (BCB)/Diamond Fire and General Insurance (DFGI) Under-19 two-day Inter-zone tournament after defeating Central/Upper Corentyne by 240 runs in their semi-final at the Canje ground last weekend.
New Amsterdam/Canje won the toss and chose to bat first with Hetmyer and Tregon Henry opening the batting and adding 60 for the first wicket before Henry fell for 16 to off-spinner Parmanand Narine.
Former Berbice Under-15 all-rounder Linden Austin then joined Hetmyer and they put on another 115 for the second wicket, before Hetmyer was caught after hitting eight fours and seven sixes in his 118.
Austin then went on to make an even 50 and national Under-15 batsman Romario De Jonge 49, national Under-19 batsman Joemal La Fleur 29 and former Guyana Under-15 all-rounder Kevin Ramdeen 26, as New Amsterdam/Canje reached 301 for 7 at the end of their allotted first innings quota of 65 overs.
Bowling for Central/Upper Corentyne, Narine took 2 for 51 and Delon Hinds 2 for 59, but when they batted, they were shakily placed on 26 for 2 and with the introduction of Ramdeen who bowls off-spin, things got worse as he picked up three consecutive wickets including Campbelle’s for 0 to see them decline to 56 for 5.
They further declined to 102 for 9 before a last-wicket stand of 40 between Delon Hinds who made an unbeaten 21 and Tariq Chaitram saw them to 142 all out in their first innings. Devin Baldeo topscored with 36 while Narine returned to make 20 against the bowling of Ramdeen who took 4-39.
With a first-innings lead of 159, New Amsterdam/Canje decided not to enforce the follow on but opted for batting practice.
However, when they started their second innings, they ran into Narine’s off-spin once again, as he removed the top four batsmen including Hetmyer (2), La Fleur (4) and Austin (11) to leave them 28 for 4.
De Jonge and Ramdeen steadied the ship by adding 52 for the fifth wicket, before De Jonge fell for 31 at 82 for 5.
Ramdeen added another 43 quickly with Vidol Crandon before he was caught for 61, and Narine picked up his fifth wicket at 126 for 7.
Crandon remained unbeaten on 45, Chedwin Cort 32 and Andel De Jonge 18 as New Amsterdam/Canje reached 221 for 9 declared against the bowling of Narine who took 5 for 57 and Surendra Kissoonlall 2 for 25.
Central/Upper Corentyne had the daunting task of scoring 381 runs in 300 minutes to register a come-from-behind win, but found the bowling too much to handle and were bowled out for 140 with N. Yacoob 32, Andy Mohan 29*, Viendra Gooniah 25 and Tariq Chaitram 24 being the leading batsmen.
Bowling for New Amsterdam/Canje, left-arm spinner Chris Sulker took 3 for 45 and De Jonge 2 for 29, as their team move on to face Lower Corentyne, who had earlier beaten West Berbice on first innings in their drawn semi-final, in the final on a date to be announced.