GCB/CASTROL Under-15 Inter-county …
At Anna Regina, compliments of Castrol
ONCE again, the bandwagon that labels itself Essequibo’s cricket, took another spiral turn downwards, when their Under-15 team plunged to a 114-run defeat against Demerara in their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised Castrol-sponsored Under-15 Inter-county match at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground yesterday. Winning the toss and opting to take first strike in sultry conditions, Demerara, who are the defending champions, scored 194-7 from their 50 overs, thanks to the batting of 12-year-old Tagenarine Chanderpaul who made 49.

Terrence Alstrom (38) and skipper Brian Sattaur 31, offered support to the son of Guyana and West Indies dependable middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul for Demerara, whose bowlers, led by Devon Lord’s 4-24 and Vishal Narayan’s 3-5, bowled out the opposition for 80 from 37.1 overs.

When Demerara batted, they raced to 37 from five overs, thanks to Sattaur’s rampant start which saw him hitting four fours and one six in his 31, before he got a leading edge back to medium fast bowler Hassan Mohammed who took 2-47.

Sattaur, who had struck Tameshwar Dhanpaul’s first delivery of the second over for a six, was dismissed in similar fashion the previous day off the same bowler, and he was joined in the pavilion by his deputy Chandrika Persaud (0), bowled by Mohammed’s next delivery.

Chanderpaul, whose mom and grandfather were at the venue and watched him bat for 49.3 overs for his 49, in which he struck one four before he was run-out, added 27 for the third wicket with Andrew Gibson who struck three fours in his 17 before he was lbw to Herry Greene who ended with 2-18 from his 10 overs of controlled left-arm orthodox spin bowling.

A 33-run fourth-wicket partnership between Chanderpaul and Kamesh Yadram (12) who had struck an unbeaten 64 in the first match, pushed Demerara to 99 before the latter was caught at the wicket off Ricardo Adams (1-15).

Demerara were relieved when Alstrom and Chanderpaul added 71 for the sixth wicket from 13.3 overs, with Alstrom, who was dropped by Raj Parbattie off his own bowling, hitting the same bowler over wide long on for six.

That was followed by two fours off Adams and Hemant Kowshaldai respectively, before he played back to Greene and was sent back to the cool comfort of the pavilion, lbw, but a four off the first ball by Dexter George who was unbeaten on 8 helped push the Demerara innings closer to the 200 mark.

Greene and Mohammed took two wickets each for 18 and 47 runs from their 10 overs for Essequibo whose lifeline of hope was kept alive, following a 50-run opening partnership between Mark Gonsalves (25) and Shavindra Hemraj 19 (1×4).

The two started cautiously against the new-ball attack of George and Odiri Reid, with Hemraj being dropped by wicketkeeper Prince Roberts off George when on five at 18 without loss in the fourth over.

Gonsalves, who touched the boundary ropes four times in his innings, rubbed salt into the wounds by hitting George for two fours in separate overs, as they raised their team’s 50 in the 15th over of the innings, at which point water was taken.

That break revived Demerara as the introduction of Lord from the eastern end of the ground, spelt doom for the home team, who are known to be the perennial whipping boys of local cricket.

He first removed Gonsalves, who was caught by Sattaur at mid off, before accounting for Kowshaldai (0) who was caught by George at first slip two deliveries later to leave Essequibo on 50-2 in the 16th over.

Adams (13) joined Hemraj and responded by hitting Lord over wide midwicket for a maximum but perished in the bowler’s next over, caught at long on by Alstrom and when Greene’s attempted cut ended in the gloves of Roberts, followed by Dhanpaul’s (1) inability to beat Sattaur’s return to Roberts on a quick single, Essequibo were shakily placed on 68-5 in the 21st over, with Lord accounting for four of the wickets to fall.

Vishal Narayan and Yadram, who took 3-5 and 2-16 respectively, ensured their team did not let their opponents off the hook, as they wrapped up the innings at 16:12 h, way before the scheduled 17:30 h close, as the host lost 10 wickets for 30 runs.

The competition continues tomorrow and Saturday at the same venue, with Essequibo facing Berbice in a third and fourth round fixture.