AS PREDICTED, discarded West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo yesterday spun webs around the Essequibo batsmen on his way to claiming his third five-wicket haul and the Guyana Cricket Board/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company/Hand-in-Hand four-day Most Valuable Player award at the Everest Cricket Club ground.The right-handed Bishoo took 6 for 53 which together with Royston Crandon’s 2 for 48, dismissed Essequibo, who won the toss and opted to bat first in a contest which saw the first three days washed out, for 156, to which Berbice had replied with 27 for 1 when the contest was called off.

Only Dillon Heyliger 39 (45 balls, 4×4, 1×6), Kemo Paul 36 (38 balls, 2×4, 3×6) and Mark Gonsalves 22 (68 balls, 2×4) offered resistance to the bowling of Bishoo and Crandon, who ensured Berbice were given a maximum of 17 overs to bat in the game which got under way at 12:00hrs.

Essequibo started disastrously, losing Kevon Boodie, bowled by Keon Joseph (1 for 3) without scoring in the third over, while Royan Fredericks 12 (2×4) pulled Raun Johnson (1 for 20) for two fours that were separated by a rain break, before he was caught at the wicket by Anthony Bramble off the same bowler.

Heyliger, who opened his account with two fours off Johnson, including an audacious straight drive back past the bowler, added 60 for the third wicket with Gonsalves who was forced to survive a barrage of short and quick deliveries from a lively Joseph, who rapped him on the knuckles when he looked to pull at one of those deliveries.

Essequibo got their 50 from 15.1 overs, with Heyliger on 28 which included his lone six that was struck over backward squareleg off Bishoo and Gonsalves 7, following which Gonsalves drove Crandon for four, while Heyliger pulled a short delivery from Bishoo for one of his four fours, through the vacant squareleg area.

The duo were separated when Gonsalves looked to hoist Bishoo over the top and was bowled at 75 for 3,which became 97 for 5, following the quick demise of Heyliger stumped by Bramble off Bishoo and Parmesh Parsotam (10) who holed out to Krisendat Ramoo at long on off Crandon.

Parsotam was dismissed after seeing Paul given a life by Johnson at long off, when he looked to hit Crandon over that area, a feat he achieved twice, while he also struck the same bowler for a boundary past Jonathan Foo in the same position. He then picked out Ramoo at long off in his bid to hit Crandon over that area for his fourth six.

Paul fell at 128 for 6, after adding a quick-fire 31 with Ekmauth Persaud (10), which was the lone resistance in the lower order from the Cinderella County lineup, coached by national coach Esaun Crandon for this fixture. Bishoo ran through their lower order with ease.

After Crandon sent back Parsotam at 97 for 5, the 28-year-old Bishoo took the remaining five wickets for his team, underlining local batsmen’s inability to play spin, and at the same time confirming his ability to make headlines in this encounter. Essequibo took the tea break on 138 for 6, and lost their remaining four wickets, all to Bishoo for 18 runs when play resumed.

Like Essequibo, Berbice also started dreadfully, losing their skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon to the third delivery of the first over in their reply, lbw to Heyliger (1 for 14) for 4, which he struck off the previous delivery.

However, Assad Fudadin who was unbeaten on 16 (22 balls, 2×4) and Kandasammy Surujnarine (7) saw their team to 27 for 1 from 6 overs, when play was called off at 16:15hrs.

At Uitvlugt, players from both the President’s XI and Demerara lineup were given a treat from the bat of Christopher Barnwell, after Amir Khan, like Bishoo continued his miserly work with the ball.

Khan emulated Bishoo with another five-wicket haul of his own, taking 6 for 17 as the President’s XI who chose to bat first, slid from 57 for 1 to 102 all out, before Barnwell put on his show, blasting 26 from Romario Shepherd-DeJonge’s lone over in his team’s 28 for 2, chasing 103 for first innings.

Ryan Ramdass was the first to go in the President’s XI innings, caught by debutant Totaram Bishun off another debutant in Randolph Knights (1 for 13) for 1, enabling Shemroy Barrington (36) and Robin Bacchus to post 55 for the second wicket.

It was a belligerent display from Barrington who struck Trevon Garraway for two sixes and one four in one over, before Bacchus was lbw to Khan for 19 and Barrington caught by Leon Johnson at first slip off Barnwell, leaving President’s XI on 57 for 3.

That soon read 57 for 5 as both Seon Hetmyer and Shaquille Williams were dismissed without scoring and while Jason Sinclair and his skipper Vishal Singh (3), whose 244 runs was the most scored by any batsman in the tournament, sought to repair the damage, but it was all in vain.

Singh was caught by Mohammed off Khan, Sinclair was lbw to Mohammed while Shepherd-DeJonge (2) and Kellon Carmichael (4) were both lbw to Khan, who also had Steven Sankar caught at the wicket by Derwin Christian for 2, as the President’s XI crumbled.

Demerara, who were dethroned by Berbice following their 10-wicket loss to the newly crowned champions in the previous round, then witnessed the Barnwell show as he clobbered three sixes and two fours off the first over from Shepherd-DeJonge.

However, he was caught by Barrington off Carmichael (2 for 10) for 26, followed by Christopher Pattadin who failed to trouble the scorers two balls later off the same bowler, at which stage the contest was called off, ending in a No-Result in comparison to the Berbice versus Essequibo fixture.

At the presentation ceremony which took place at Everest, Honorary Secretary of the GCB Anand Sanasie along with GT&T’s Marketing Officer Nicola Duggan and Marketing Officer of Hand-in-Hand Andrea Jodah-Khan, congratulated Berbice and wished the other teams best of luck next year.

For his exploits with the ball, where he took a total of 25 wickets in the three matches, Bishoo received a trophy and pair of bowling boots, while he also got a trophy and a bat (valued $50 000) for his MVP status, even as Singh got a trophy and bat (valued $50 000) for his Most Runs scored.

Crandon was the recipient of a pair of batting boots for his all-round efforts, while Berbice took home bragging rights for one year, a trophy and $100 000 and the President’s XI a trophy and $50 000 as their runner-up spoils.
Written By Calvin Roberts