Barrington hits half-century, but MSC come out victorious  
DESPITE an entertaining half-century from national opening batsman Shemroy Barrington, coupled with a five-wicket haul from medium pacer Ameer Khan, Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) still managed  to come out on top in their Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Carib Beer/Friends of Cricket-sponsored first division two-day matchup against the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) last weekend at Camp Ayanganna.
Resuming on their overnight score of 150-2 with Kwame Crosse on 65 and skipper Steven Jacobs 28, in reply to their opponents’ first innings score of 135, MSC declared their first innings closed on 234-6, with Crosse adding 11 to his overnight score.
Jacobs fell for 49 as Khan, who hails from West Demerara, had the impressive figures of 5-49 while his skipper Paul Castello offered support with 3-71 and were dismissed for 169 in their second innings, which they commenced with a deficit of 99 runs.
Barrington led the batting with his 89 before he was sent back to the pavilion by Jacobs for the second time in the match and even though Essequibo’s Dillon Heyliger offered support with his 41, GDF crumbled against the pace/spin combination of Steven Sankar, Seon Daniels and Jacobs who took three wickets each for 27, 35 and 70 runs respectively.
Asked to score 74 to record a victory, MSC whose club house is located a stone’s throw away, reached 74 for 3, with Jacobs and former national Under-15 skipper Carlos La Rose being the not-out batsmen on 26 and 16 each.
At the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, the home team, thanks to national all-rounder Christopher Barnwell’s double half-century and Derwin Christian’s second innings half-century, hung on for dear life in their matchup against Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC).
Resuming at their overnight score of 214-8, of which national middle order batsmen Leon Johnson and Vishal Singh contributed 56 and 55 respectively, GCC added 20 more runs on the final day before they were bowled out.
Off-spinner Kevin George with 4-49, Totaram Bishun 4-91 and Barnwell 2-38 did the damage with the ball for the Queenstown-based club, who were dismissed for 126 in their first innings, despite Barnwell’s 83 that was decorated with seven sixes and four fours.
Medium pacer Gavin Charles took 4-32 and received support from Raj Nanan who took 3-38 for GCC who opted to enforce the follow on, with DCC trailing by 108 runs.
Barnwell took the opportunity to rack up his second half-century of the match, this time hitting 57, while Christian (55), Jamal Hinckson (50) and Gajanand Singh 35 offered support to ensure GCC did not walk away with maximum points as DCC reached 250-8, even though Nanan claimed 5-102 for the visitors.