Written by Calvin Roberts
A BELLIGERENT unbeaten half- century from Guyana and West Indies T20 all-rounder Christopher Barnwell, piloted defending champions Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) to a 72 runs victory over a Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) at the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) ground yesterday.Competing in the third round of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) organised Carib Beer sponsored first division T20 competition, DCC scored an imposing 111 for 3 from their 7 overs, with Barnwell hitting 10 sixes and one four in his 72, in the rain reduced contest.

Also chalking up victories in the third round were MSC, Gandhi Youth Organization (GYO) and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC), respectively.
In reply, GNIC were held to a meager 39 for 6 from their 7 overs, as the pace/spin combination that was in operation for the defending champions, led by Dennis ‘Bitterman’ Squires’ 2 for 9, did an excellent job in containing the GNIC batting lineup, even though Marc Nicholson hit an unbeaten 19.
DCC started badly when the contest got underway, losing the wickets of Trevon Griffith (00) and Andrew Lyght Jnr (08) in quick succession to be 14 for 2 in the second over, before Barnwell and Brian Sattaur 19 (2×4, 1×6) added 87 for the third wicket from 4.4 overs.
No GNIC bowler was shown any sympathy from Barnwell, who posted his 50 from 15 balls with seven sixes and one four, with a six over wide midwicket off National Coach Esuan Crandon, and celebrated with a bigger six over the same position off the next delivery.
DCC lost Sattaur, who offered valuable support to Barnwell off the second delivery of the final over, but still reached their eventual total, while there was a wicket each for Krishna Arjune, Royston Simmons and Rawle Merrell.
Squires struck twice in the first over of GNIC’s innings, removing both Quincy Ovid-Richardson and Arjune without scoring, while Paul Wintz accounted for Rayon Griffith (10, 1×6), even though Nicholson struck Squires for a six off the third ball of the first over.
The quick demise of Crandon (00), Ranole Bourne (01) and Ejaz Mohammed (01), did not help GNIC’s cause as they crawled to their eventual total at the end of their seven overs, handing DCC their third successive victory in the tournament.
At the same venue and in the second match of the day, the home team who lost both of their opening matches to DCC and GNIC, rebounded to defeat Everest Cricket Club by 25 runs in another rain truncated contest.
Batting first, MSC posted 123 for 7, with Kellon Carmichael and Kareem Naughton topscoring with 20 each, while they got support from Vishal Narayan (17), Keifer Naughton 14 and skipper Shemroy Barrington who made 11.
A. Mohammed (3 for 21) and Troy Gonsalves’ 2 for 26 were the leading wicket takers for Everest, who in reply crumbled to the pace of Cordell Mars who took 4 for 18 and were bowled out for 88 in 15.3 overs, with R. Singh and J. Mohammed both making 13.
Across at the Police Sports Club ground, GYO defeated Transport Sports Club (TSC) by five wickets, while GCC made light work of PSC n the second contest, which like the MSC versus Everest affair, was a rain interrupted one.
In the first game which was reduced to an 18- over affair, TSC posted what looked like a match winning 148 for 8 from their allotted overs, thanks to Oslyn Batson’s 51 (5×4, 2×6), Stephen Alves’ 24 (4×4) and Sunil Singh 14 (3×4).
Former Guyana Under-19 fast bowler Leon Scott took 3 for 20 and A. Rahim 2 for 18 for GYO, who in reply reached 152 for 5 from 17.5 overs, thanks to 43 from Surendra Heeralall (3×6, 2×4), 34 from Crosse (4x4m 1×6) coupled with 32 from Rahim, whose innings was decorated with two sixes and the same number of fours, even as Jonathan Alphonso snared 3 for 30 for TSC.
In the second game of the day at the PSC ground, the home team who were asked to bat first by their guests, chalked up 116 for 4 from their 14 overs, thanks to skipper Royan Fredericks 41 (3×6, 3×4), Jason Heyliger 33 (2×6, 1×4) and 14 from Rawle Browne, which included one six and a four.
Jamal Anderson, Joshua Wade, Raj Nannan and Leon Johnson took a wicket each for GCC, who in reply reached 117 for 2, with Johnson hitting an unbeaten 61 (7×4, 4×6) and former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan contributing an unbeaten 28 (1×6, 1×4).