DEFENDING champions Demerara made a positive start to their title defence in the Guyana Cricket Board Under-17 Inter-county tournament, with a commanding 10-wicket victory over Essequibo at the Enmore Community Centre ground yesterday.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, Essequibo found the bowling of Shurfane Rutherford and Travis Persaud too hot to handle and were bundled out for 106 off 34 overs, with Guyana Amazon Warriors Under-19 recruit Kemo Paul top-scoring with 50 (73 balls, 2×4, 1×6).
Rutherford took 3 for 7 and Persaud 3 for 14 for Demerara, who later saw man-of-the-match Ronaldo Renee hit an unbeaten 65 (75 balls, 8×4), which together with Raymond Perez’s unbeaten 19 steered their side to 107 without loss from 19 overs, to complete the win.
Extras contributed a healthy 26 to the Cinderella County team’s batting, as their batsmen struggled, even though Paul fought tooth and nail for his side, hitting Malcolm Hubbard over midwicket for six, before he was given out caught by Ronaldo Ali Mohammed off Persaud, even though the ball touched the ground before carrying to the fielder who was stationed at first slip.
At lunch, Demerara were 68 without loss with Renee on 35 that included four fours and Perez 11. After the interval, Renee posted his half-century and the second of the match, when he cut Paul through point for his seventh four and sealed the win with his eighth four two overs later.
The action will continue today, with Essequibo facing Berbice at the Wales Community Centre ground from 09:30hrs, under the watchful eyes of Zaheer Mohammed and Edward Bowen, with Cyril Garnath, who officiated in the Demerara versus Essequibo encounter, along with Bowen, as the standby official.
The teams for this fixture will be chosen from: Berbice – Adrian Sukhwah, Ritesh Omroa, Randy Wade, Kevin Sinclair, Steve Deonarine, Brandon Persaud (captain), Devindra Chatterpaul, Jaleel Jafar, Asif Ally, Nicholas Seonarine, Sylus Tyndell, Deon Sinclair, Randy Singh, Rameshwar Somwaru. The Manager is Leslie Solomon and the coach is Julian Moore.
Essequibo: Nathan Persaud (captain), Kemo Paul, Akini Adams, Saddiq Mohamed, Kevin Martinborough, Miguel Jones, Besham Dasrath, Satesh Latchana, Wayne Fernandes, Jonathan Fernandes, Mark Williams, Sachin Persaud, Joshua Jones, Christopher Latchman. The manager is Nazeer Mohamed and the coach is Andy Ramnarine.
Written By Calvin Roberts