THANKS to some penetrative medium-pace bowling from Christopher Barnwell, backed by spinners Raj Nannan and Amir Khan, Demerara placed themselves in a comfortable position at the end of the first day of their second-round fixture against the GCB Developmental XI yesterday, in this year’s Guyana Cricket Board senior Inter-county four-day tournament.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the GCB Developmental XI, who won their first-round encounter against Essequibo by six wickets, raced to 47 in seven overs, but were bowled out for 154 on the stroke of tea, with Barnwell taking 4 for 48 with Nannan (2 for 3) and Khan 2 for 46.
Asked to bat 41 overs before the schedule close of play, Demerara saw Robin Bacchus started in a belligerent fashion, with back-to-back boundaries off Kellon Carmichael, then repeating the same off Kemo Paul two overs later as they moved to 40 without loss.
The duo raced to 45 off 7.4 overs before Bacchus was caught by Paul at long-off off Jacobs for a boundary-studded 20 (5×4), while Rajendra Chandrika was given a life by Kemol Savory off the first ball he faced, as the diminutive wicketkeeper failed to execute the stumping cleanly.
Chandrika rode his luck with Griffith, who posted his 50 from 84 balls while batting for 99 minutes in which time he struck five fours, before he was lbw to Jacobs for 53, to add 65 for the second wicket with Chandrika following next, lbw to Steven Sankar for 26.
When bad light stopped play, Demerara were 134 for 3 off 39 overs, with Khan on 14 (2×4) and his skipper Vishal Singh on 6, while Jacobs has so far taken 2 for 33 and Sankar 1 for 9, with Demerara 20 runs adrift of the Developmental XI

first-innings total.
Playing an unchanged side and preferring to go with the same 11 that defeated Essequibo by six wickets in the first round, the Developmental XI won the toss, decided to bat first and saw a pugnacious-looking Shimron Hetmyer hit Paul Wintz for four fours in his first three overs.
At the other end, Hetmyer’s partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul also got a four off Wintz and debutant left-arm fast bowler Gavin Moriah, before Wintz trapped Hetmyer lbw for 41 (27 balls, 8×4), in the seventh over, after he was earlier struck for a hat-trick of fours by the left-handed opener.
Barnwell replaced Moriah at the Carifesta Avenue end and got a hat-trick of wickets in two overs, removing Chandrapaul Hemraj (10) and Steven Jacobs (0) off successive deliveries in one, followed by the wicket of Chanderpaul (8) in the other, to leave the Developmental side on 73 for 4.
They survived any further alarms up to the lunch break, which they took with their total reading 89 for 4, with David Latchaya, who foiled Barnwell’s hat-trick with back-to-back boundaries to third man on 16 and Kemo Paul, 7.
With close to 40 minutes lost during the lunch session, created by the late arrival of lunch for the players and officials at both playing venues, the Developmental XI lost Paul (7) who was bowled by Barnwell at 90 for 5 when play got under way at Camp Road,.
Kemol Savory failed to trouble the scorers, as he was run-out by Khan’s direct hit from gully point at 95 for 6. They crawled to 100 off 31 overs, after being 47 without loss from seven, early on in their innings.
Despite the fall of wickets at the other end, Latchaya continued to be positive, playing an audacious square drive to Barnwell after lunch that sped away for four, while Yatesh Dhanpaul also got a boundary off Khan, pushing the score to 110 for 6.
The demise of Latchaya, lbw to Raj Nannan for 34 (66 balls, 5×4) at 120 for 8, followed by the wicket of Carmichael (0), saw Steven Sankar and Niall Smith frustrate Demerara for another 9.2 overs as they added 27 for the 10th wicket, with Sankar hitting Khan for six and four in one over, followed by a sweetly-timed drive off Barnwell for another four.
Sankar grew in confidence as his side passed the 150-mark, celebrating same with another four, his third over extra cover off Barnwell, before Smith (4) was lbw to Khan to close off the innings and forcing an early tea break in the process.
Meanwhile, in the other second round game at the Demerara Cricket Club ground, Berbice closed the opening day on 130-3, trailing Essequibo’s first-innings total by 42 runs, after Veerasammy Permaul and Devon Clements shared seven wickets between them to bowl out Essequibo for 173 in 46.1 overs.
Permaul grabbed 5 for 54 and Clements 2 for 25, as Berbice took control of the contest after electing to field first, with only Ricardo Adams 62, Ricardo Peters 38 and Royan Fredericks 30 offering token resistance to the Ancient County bowlers.
Narsingh Deonarine was unbeaten on 43 for Berbice and has as his overnight partner, Jonathan Foo on 14, with first-round centurion Kandasammy Surujnarine (5), Seon Hetmyer (37) and Clements (21) being the batsmen dismissed.

(By Calvin Roberts)