Bookie hits ton as West Demerara batsmen fail to score
… Basdeo snares 6 for 34 as East Coast also win

ALPHIUS Bookie struck the first century of this year’s Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Under-15 Inter-Association cricket tournament for defending champions Georgetown, who demolished West Demerara by 282 runs at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground yesterday.

Across at the once-famous Georgetown Cricket Club ground, East Coast on the back of a solid all-round performance from Ramdeo Basdeo, who was later declared the Man-of-the-Match like Bookie, defeated East Bank by 19 runs in a thrilling encounter.
But it was the Georgetown versus West Demerara affair which set tongues wagging throughout the day, following the emphatic win by the Gavin Nedd-coached defending champions’ line-up.
Opting to bat first in hazy conditions, Bookie guided Georgetown to 291 for 5 from their 50 overs, hitting 12 fours and one six in his 109 (50-5×4; 1×6) and got ample support from Kurt Lovell 61 (4×4, 1×6), with whom he added 163 for the fourth wicket, even as Joshua Persaud chipped in with 35 (5×4).
Daneshwar Kowlessar and Ritesh Samaroo took 2 wickets each for 29 and 58 runs respectively for West Demerara, who, in reply, were bowled out for a meagre 13 in 7.5 overs, with all of their batsmen failing to trouble the scorer.
Ashmead Nedd (4-0), Colin Barlow (3 for 3) and Junior Phillips 2 for 9, ran through their batting without any resistance, with extras accounting for all their runs.
At GCC, East Coast like Georgetown, chose to bat first and were bowled out for 175 from 49 overs, with their skipper Bhaskar Yadram, who led Guyana at the Regional Under-15 tournament last year, topscoring with 47 (7×4).
He added 62 for the third wicket with Basdeo who contributed 40 (5×4) to his team’s total, with Prakash Balkissoon chipping in with a valuable 31 that was decorated with three fours in East Coast’s middle order, in the face of Bhojnarine Singh’s 5 for 22 and Rickey Das’ 3 for 26.
Basdeo returned with the ball to snare 6 for 34, which enabled East Coast, who narrowly lost out on claiming the title last year to Georgetown, to bowl out their opponents for 156 from 41.2 overs, despite 35 (2×4) from Sagar Hetheramani and a resilient 13 from Rawle Douglas, that included two fours.
The action continues today at the Everest Cricket Club ground, where both West Demerara and East Bank will be seeking redemption for their first-round loss, when they clash from 10:00hrs.

(By Calvin Roberts)