Essequibo in control over defending champions
KNOWN to be a very competitive side at the Under-15 and U-19 levels in local cricket, perennial whipping boys Essequibo showed much fight in their opening round match of this year’s Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) Under-15 Inter-county tournament against Berbice at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.
Batting first on a rain-ruined day, Essequibo reached 148 for 5 at the end of their allotted 65 overs, before reducing the defending champions to 37 for 3 after 11 overs at the close of play on a rain-truncated day.
Ricakdo Peters top-scored for the Cinderella County side, hitting five fours in his unbeaten 69 while Kemo Paul offered support with 47 against the bowling of Sharaz Ramcharran who took 2-49, while there was a wicket each for Arif Chan and Grisean Grant.
The umpires wanted to take lunch at 11:00hrs, the scheduled time for same, and start play at 11:30hrs but could not do so due to the late arrival of the meals.
Finally, play got under way at 12:00hrs, but was interrupted at 12:30hrs, as the players complained of feeling hungry, at which time the lunch had arrived and the umpires called for the break in a tournament that is being used as a yardstick to select the national team to contest the regional Under-15 tournament sometime soon.
Play will get under way at 09:00hrs, with Berbcie, who won last year’s tournament convincingly, looking to get the remaining 112 runs for first innings points, while Essequibo will be looking to claim the remaining seven wickets to head into their next fixture against Demerara on a high.