De Souza hits ton but rain has final say
GUYANA National Industrial Corporation’s (GNIC) Shawn De Souza struck the lone century of this round, while the rain interrupted the other two matches as action in the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Heroes Cup first division competition culminated yesterday.
Troy Gonsalves, Shemroy Barrington, Dion Ferrier, Trevon Griffith and Leroy Primo all struck half centuries, while both Barrington and Totaram Bishun continued to mesmerize the batsmen with their spin for their respective teams.
At the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ground, the home team fought back valiantly despite losing first innings points in their matchup against Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) thanks to a spirited effort from Barrington.
Resuming on their overnight 157-8 in reply to GDF’s 118 with Gavin Singh and Joshua Wade on 9 each, GCC were bowled out for  200 with Wade contributing 26 (2×6, 1×4) and Singh 25, against the bowling of Barrington who added two more wickets to his first day five wicket haul to end with 7-19 from 9.1 overs.
Faced with a deficit of 82 runs, Barrington returned to score an unbeaten and authoritative 64 that was decorated with five fours and three sixes while adding 78 for the first wicket with Travis Blyden (20) before the rain interrupted proceedings with GDF on 85-2 with Gavin Singh taking both wickets for 10 runs.
At the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, the home team bowled out their visitors Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) for 167, who resumed on 115-5, in reply to DCC’s 240.  Ferrier contributed 61 that was decorated with seven fours and three sixes, hitting back to back sixes off Bishun before he was run out.
Bishun had taken 5-62 on the first day and returned to torment the MSC batting lineup to end with 8-82 from 24 overs of left arm spin for DCC who reached 218-8 declared in their second innings, thanks to the batting of Griffith and Primo who added 117 for the first wicket.
Griffith struck seven fours and two sixes in his 63 while Primo struck seven fours in his even 50 and along with Jamal Hinckson’s belligerent 42 (4×4; 2×6) and Denver Greaves’ 20 (1×4; 1×6), guided DCC to their total against the bowling of Ferrier and Damien Van Tull who took three wickets each for 35 and 40 runs respectively and Kellon Carmichael 2-65.
Needing to score 292 to record a come from behind victory, MSC started badly when they lost national middle order batsman Steven Jacobs (00) who opted to open the batting, caught by a diving Dexter George at mid on off Christopher Barnwell (1-7).
Carmichael returned to hit an unbeaten 30 that was decorated with two sixes (struck off Bishun) and two fours while Kwame Crosse had one four in his 11 as MSC reached 44-1 off 12 overs when the heavens opened and stopped play.
At Camp Road, Everest Cricket Club (ECC) held GNIC to a draw despite De Souza hitting 13 fours and one six in his 136, adding 56 more to his overnight score, as GNIC who started the day on 151-5 in reply to ECC’s 102, were bowled out for 214 in their first innings.
Leon Scott (4-47), Amir Khan (2-43) and Gonsalves 2-64 did the damage with the ball for ECC who were 199-9 off 73 overs at the end of the match, with Gonsalves top scoring with 69 (4×4, 1×6), Ryan Ramdass 48 (2×4, 2×6) and Khan an unbeaten 17 (2×4).
Ryan Hercules, Collis Butts, Ranole Bourne and Elton Baker all took two wickets for 11, 26, 51 and 46 runs respectively for GNIC.
Action in this tournament is set to continue this weekend with a highly anticipated matchup between DCC and GCC.