– Berbice beat Guyana Select U-15 X1 by nine wickets

DEMERARA suffered a shock three-wicket defeat at the hands of Essequibo in their second round Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) sponsored Igloo Inter-County Under-17 one-day tournament, played at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, yesterday.
Known as the perennial whipping boys of local cricket, the Cinderella County side turned in a sound bowling and fielding performance first up to skittle out the defending champions, for 127 in 40.5 overs.
Five Demerara batsmen got to double figures but the accurate, disciplined Essequibo bowlers allowed none of the batsmen to take charge.
Medium- pacer and man-of-the-match Mark Rankin was the leading wicket-taker for Essequibo with 5-23, but it was essentially a total team effort.
Chasing the paltry total, the visitors suffered a mini middle-order collapse, but eventually achieved the winning target, with 11.5 overs to spear.
Lance Roberts conquered the collapse, and ensured Essequibo crossed the final hurdle, with an unbeaten 29.
Demerara’s decision to bat first backfired right from the start when medium pacer Reyaz Khan (1-47) had Sachin Singh caught at the wicket off the first ball of the innings.
That dismissal brought a total meltdown to the visitors batting line-up, as Leon Swami (2-22) soon after got into the act, when he bowled the other opener,Adrian Hinds in the sixth over.

Alphius Bookie and Robin Williams added 32 for the third-wicket before the latter was caught at point to off-spinner Roberts (2-18), for 18.
Rankin then ripped through the middle-order to trap both Pradesh Ballkishun (1) and Bookie (18) leg-before wicket before claiming the wicket of Ashmead Nedd for four.
Roberts removed Andrew Samroo without scoring, at 71-7, but after an eight-wicket stand of 26 between Hemnauth Dindyal and Qumar Torrington, Swami returned for a second spell and immediately trapped Torrington plumb in front for 10.
Rankin then took the final two wickets of Dindyal and Elion Whyte for 18 and 10 respectively.

The Essequibo openers then made a positive start to the reply, putting together 38 for the first wicket before Orlando Jailall,who hit two fours and a six, was bowled by Ballkishun (3-26), for 23.

With the pitch far truer,opener Kevin Christian along with Azeem Mohamed made the most of it to ensure the visitors kept their heavy foot firmly on the hosts ‘throat. The duo built their solid stand with relative ease, facing little pressure from the hosts’ bowlers to add 42 for the second-wicket.

However, left-arm spinner Nedd (2-11), provided the breakthrough when he bowled Christian for 29. Mohamed followed soon after to Ballkishun for 16, at 81-3.

Swami and Roberts then added 23 for the fourth-wicket before four quick wickets fell. Nedd removed Swami (8), Ballkishun claimed the wicket of Badesh Prastom without scoring, while Devendra Mohan and Saeed Hakh were run out in separate mix-up, with Roberts, at 115-7.
Roberts and Khan then took Essequibo home safely, with Roberts hitting Torrington for a sweetly-timed boundary to seal the win.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Select Under-15 X1 also suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat to Berbice in the other second round game, played at the Everest Cricket Club ground.

The Berbice’s spin assault of off-spinner Kevlon Anderson (3-2), leg-spinner Mahendra Dorasami (3-13), left-arm spinner Kevin Omroa (3-16) and Seon Glasgow sparked a spectacular batting collapse, as the Guyana Select Under-15 X1 were routed for just 70 in 34.3 overs.
After decided to bat first openers Ricardo Ramdehol and Shemar Yearwood put together 33 for the first wicket when play began, but after Omroa broke the promising stand when he trapped Ramdehol leg before wicket for 16, the Guyana Select Under-15 X1 caved in without much resistance losing their last nine wickets for an addition of 38 runs.
Yearwood made 17, but the remaining batsmen failed to make double figures.
In reply,man-of-the-match Alex Algu then hammered a quick-fired 43, and added 63 for the first wicket with Brandon Mangal to put the run chase on target.
When the victory target was achieved after 11.1 overs, Berbice reached 71-1, with Mangal unbeaten on 14, while Junior Sinclair was on three. Algu hammered three fours and a similar amount of sixes in his destructive stay at the wicket.
The final round is billed for tomorrow.