… Demerara make light work of Essequibo
THE GCB President’s X1 crumbled against spin bowling to crash to a 147-run defeat against Berbice in the opening round of the Inter-County Under-15 tournament yesterday at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground.
Chasing 196, a batting meltdown saw them bundled out for just 49 in 29.5 overs, giving the Ancient County side a perfect start to the tournament.
The GCB President’s X1 began their chase steadily as openers Shamma Yearwood and Mahendra Goepilall put together 21 for the first wicket before a mix-up between the two batsmen, resulted in Goepilall’s dismissal for seven.
However, left-arm spinner Akash Herelall and off-spinner Abdur Ramsammy then produced two excellent spells of bowling, to rip through the President’s X1’s batting line-up, who had no answers for the guile and deception of the spinning duo.
After losing the first wicket, the innings never really looked set to take off and stuttered and stumbled for the remainder of the innings.
Herelall finished with figures of 4-5, while Ramsammy ended with 3-8.
Earlier, Berbice rallied around a third-wicket partnership of 120, between Daniel Dharamdat and Marvan Prashad to pose a challenging total.
The Man-of-the-Match, Prashad, stroked a composed 67, while Dharamdat chipped in with a fluent 44.
Asked to bat first, Berbice made a disappointing start when they lost both their openers inside the first seven overs.
Sarwan Chaitnarine (2), was bowled by Ronaldo Duraws, while Raynaldo Mohamed removed Ricardo Ramdial (11) at 21-2.
However, it was a little better thereafter when Dharamdat and Prashad settled in and featured in a crucial partnership, which was the backbone in the total.
The pair were allowed to score freely, and in the process played a wide selection of shots, with Prashad passing his half-century.
But it was off-spinner Joel Gilkes, who provided the vital breakthrough when he removed Prashad. Dharamdat followed soon after to Danny Atkinson.
Following those two dismissals, wickets started to tumble, with left-arm spinner Mohamed being the chief destroyer to finish with figures of 4-36.
Berbice kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out off the final delivery of the innings with no other batsmen offering any resistance.
Meanwhile, in the other first-round game played at the Police Sports Club ground, Demerara made light work of Essequibo, whipping the visitors by 112 runs.
Batting first Demerara made 176-9, with Shoaib Shaw hitting 56. Essequibo in reply were bowled out for 64 in 26.5 overs. Andre Seepersaud (3-15) was the most successful bowler for Demerara.
The tournament continues today, with Berbice facing Demerara at Enmore, while Essequibo will come up against the GCB President’s X1 at Everest.
