Demerara and Essequibo play to tame draw
HAVING taken first-innings points and enforcing the follow-on early in the day, Demerara failed to take Essequibo’s 10 second-innings wickets in the time that was available, as their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-15 Inter-county two-day match ended in a tame draw at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.
Resuming on their overnight score of 87 for 5 in reply to Demerara’s 264 for 7 when play finally got under way at 12:30hrs after early morning showers forced the cancellation of play in the morning session, Essequibo were bowled out for 141 from 63.1 overs.
Captain Kemol Savory and Travis Drakes offered support to Kemo Paul’s top score of 46, with 23 and 20 respectively as the Cinderella County batsmen crumbled to the spin of Steven Sankar who took 5 for 39 and Akshaya Persaud with 2-36, which supported medium pacer Kevin Paul’s 2-42.
Asked to follow on with a deficit of 123 runs, the Essequibians fared better and reached 133 for 4 from 60 overs, showing a much better fight in their second innings.
Paul continued his impressive showing with the bat, as he once again top-scored with 44 that was decorated with three fours before he was caught and bowled by Omar Persaud (1-16).
Ricardo Peters (24), Devon George 23 and Parmesh Parsatan 20 all contributed with the bat for their team, with Peters and Parsatan adding 48 for the first wicket before they were both dismissed by Akshaya Persaud who ended with 3 for 13 from nine overs, while Paul added a match-saving 56 for the fourth wicket with George from 29.5 overs, before he was dismissed.
The final round match will bowl off tomorrow at the same venue between Demerara and defending champions Berbice.