… Demerara close gap on Essequibo

ANOTHER resilient knock of 75 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, enabled the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Developmental XI to resist Berbice at the end of the second day of their third round GCB senior Inter-county four-day contest at the Wales Community Centre ground yesterday.

The 40-year-old dependable West Indies middle order batsman was unbeaten on 75 and had as his partner, national Under-19 wicketkeeper/batsman Kemol Savory who was on 34, as their team ended the day on 234 for 6, in reply to Berbice’s 418.

To date, Chanderpaul, who featured in two useful partnerships – 77 for the fifth wicket with Kemo Paul and 68 unbroken with Savory – has batted for 263 minutes faced 188 balls sand struck five fours while Savory has faced 83 balls during his 92 minutes stay at the wicket in which he has struck seven fours.
Earlier in the day, Shimron Hetmyer 21 (3×4) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (5) added 28 for the first wicket, before the lively Raun Johnson (2 for 24) removed both batsmen within the space of one run, with the younger Chanderpaul being caught at the wicket by Anthony Bramble, while Hetmyer was taken at second slip by Jonathan Foo.
Steven Jacobs 32 (5×4) and Chandrapaul Hemraj 11 (2×4) pushed the score to 60, with Jacobs, who started with a well-timed drive for four off Johnson, being content to push forward on the front foot to the Ancient County spinners.
He saw the demise of Hemraj, who was bowled by Veerasammy Permaul (2 for 62), but together with Shiv, who was given a standing ovation and round of applause on his way to the middle by the appreciative crowd, took their team to 73 for 3 at lunch with Jacobs on 26 and Chanderpaul 8.
After the break, Berbice removed Jacobs in the third over when he went down the track to Narsingh Deonarine and was left stranded, as Bramble completed the stumping on the second attempt, bringing his 20-run partnership with Chanderpaul to a close.
Paul joined the veteran left-hander and mixing sound defence with positive aggression took the fight to the Berbicians, cutting Permaul when he was short and driving with authority – shots that brought him two fours in one over off Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, repeating the feat later against Permaul.
At tea, the duo took their team to 152 for 4 off 66 overs with Paul on 38 and Chanderpaul 42, with Berbice searching for a way to dislodge the pair, who at one time looked set to take their side to the close of play without any trouble.
A delivery that kept low from Keon Joseph (1 for 44) accounted for Paul who was bowled for 39 (106 balls, 7×4) and he was quickly followed by Ashkay Homraj (5), leaving their side on 166 for 6 with Chanderpaul on 46.
The level-headed Savory joined Chanderpaul and after some anxious moments against the spinners, especially Permaul, grew in confidence to hit the West Indies left-arm spinner for two fours in one over midway the final session.
Prior to that, Chanderpaul posted his half-century from 142 balls in 168 minutes. He had struck four fours, just before he lost Homraj, but with Savory showing a willingness to apply himself and not risk anything, they pushed their side to their final total at the close of play off 92 overs, needing another 185 for first-innings lead.
At the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Demerara resumed the day on 60 for 2 in reply to Essequibo’s 263 and were bowled out for 227, with Christopher Barnwell 61 (4×4, 1×6), Rajendra Chandrika 52 (7×4) and Trevon Griffith 32 (5×4) leading their batting.
Left-arm spinner Hemchand Persaud and his skipper Anthony Adams took 4 wickets each for 57 and 66 runs respectively for Essequibo, who with a lead of 36 runs were shakily placed on 98 for 6 at the end of the day’s play.
The hard-hitting Ricardo Adams who is unbeaten on 67 (7×4, 1×6) is the lone batsman to pass 15, even as Royan Fredericks contributed 12 to his team’s second-innings total, which gave them a lead of 134 with four wickets in hand.
So far, Amir Khan and Zaheer Mohammed have taken two wickets each for 12 and 31 runs respectively, while Paul Wintz and Raj Nannan both have one victim in the Cinderella County’s team second innings.
Action in both matches will continue on the third day today from 09:30hrs.

(By Calvin Roberts)