– New Amsterdam/Canje and Central/Upper Corentyne record outright victories–
THREE batsmen namely Moshin Peerkhan, Devon Clements and Raga Latchana registered centuries last weekend as the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) organised Banks Light Beer sponsored three day Inter-zone first division tournament continued with second round matches. Peerkhan hit 135 as Central/Upper Corentyne recorded an innings and nine runs victory over West Berbice, Clements struck 152 as New Amsterdam/Canje defeated and recorded an upset victory over Lower Corentyne, despite Latchana’s rearguard 115 and Kevin Ramdeen’s 6-57.

At the Port Mourant Cricket ground: Lower Corentyne batted first after winning the toss and made 261 in their first innings despite losing discarded national opening batsman and their skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon without scoring off the second ball, caught at the wicket off left arm pacer Davindra Ramoutar.

The elegant Latchana revived his team’s innings with his 115 (11×4, 4×6) and received support from Harrinarine Chattergoon 30 (6×4), Ramnarine Chattergoon 21 and Jason Sinclair 59 (3×4, 1×6).

Bowling for New Amsterdam/Canje, Clements took 4-57, left arm spinner Eugene La Fleur (2-21) and medium pacer Maxie De Jonge 2-27, following which New Amsterdam/Canje made 401 in reply, thanks to Clements’ brilliant 152 (13×4, 2×6).

Clements added 108 for the first wicket with 15 years old Romario De Jonge who scored 47 (3×4) and a further 171 with Maxie De Jonge (81) for the second wicket, while Ishwar Singh (44*) and Raid Ally (23) offered support as their team built a handsome 140 runs first innings lead.

Discarded national wicket keeper Delbert Hicks took off the gloves to claim 4-41 from 12.1 overs while off spinner Ramnarine Chattergoon took 2 for 38 for Lowe Corentyne who were bowled out for 230 in their second innings.

Sewnarine Chattergoon displayed some signs of returning to form with 59 (8×4, 1×6), Renwick Batson 84 (9×4), Latchana 20 and Ramnarine Chattergoon 15 while Ramdeen displayed maturity in claiming 6-57 with his off spin from 14.4 overs for New Amsterdam/Canje.

Needing 91 to register an upset victory, the visitors reached 92- 5 with Eugene La Fleur hitting an unbeaten 30 and Clements completing a fine all round match with 29 even as Shailendra Shameer and Batson took two wickets each for 18 and 30 runs respectively.

At the Blairmont Community Centre ground, Central/Upper Corentyne defeated West Berbice by an innings and nine runs.

Batting first, West Berbice were bowled out for a paltry 104 with only Keyron Fraser (32*), Digesh Persaud (18)and Krisendat Ramoo (13) showing any resistance to the bowling of Junior Blair (3-41), Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai (2-10) and Yogindra Harrinarine (2-35).

In reply, Central/Upper Corentyne rattled up 293 with Peerkhan leading the way with his 135 (14×4) and he received support from Ganesh Narinedat 24, Bisham Deolall 24, C. Arjune 21 and Andy Mohan 18.

Bowling for West Berbice Sherwin Mc Pherson (3-35), Andrew Dennis (2-23) and Fraser 2-45 kept their side in the hunt, but their batting did not as they were bowled out for 180 in their second innings to go down by an innings and 9 runs.

Arthley Bailey (49), Dennis (34), Digesh Persaud (27), Mc Pherson (22) and Asif Khan 20 were the lone batsmen offering resistance to the bowling of Harrinarine who took 5-63 and received support from Shameer Khan 3-39 and Motie-Kanhai 2- 41.

At the completion of the first two rounds, the points standing are as follows: NA/Canje 18, Central/Upper Corentyne 15, Lower Corentyne 6 and West Berbice 3.