LOWER Corentyne defeated West Berbice on first innings at the Port Mourant Cricket Ground in the opening round of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB)-organised, Diamond Fire and General Insurance (DFGI)-sponsored  Under-19 Inter-zone tournament to reach the finals.
Batting first after winning the toss, Lower Corentyne were dismissed for 203 in 56 of their allotted 65 overs, with Kandasammy Surujnarine 48, Dominic Rikhi 41, Veerapen Permaul 25, Sasenarine Ernest 25, Shawn Pereira 25 and Shailendra Hardyal 20 being the leading scorers.
Bowling for West Berbice, medium pacer Grisean Grant took 4-12 and Wagar Hassan 2 for 25, but their team were bundled out for 119 in 50 overs, with D. Prashad (34), Nick Ramsaroop 30 and Grant 19 managing to reach double figures.
Off-spinner Lloydel Lewis took 3 for 8 and Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai 3 for 19 for Lower Corentyne who, batting a scond time after obtaining a lead of 84 runs, reached 231 all out, with Sasenarine Ernest top-scoring with 76 (5×4), Pereira 57, Shailendra Shameer and Shailendra Hardyal 30 each, and Lewis 28 being the principal scorers.
Hassan grabbed  3-43, medium pacer Akram Rahaman 3 for 44  and Renalto Grovesnor 2 for 30 for West Berbice who were set an impossible 315 for victory in two hours and struggled to 50 for 8 when play was called off.
Quacy McPherson 18 and skipper Devashwani Prashad were the only persons to reach double figures as Motie claimed 4 for 16  and Lewis 3 for 12 for their team, who will now face the winner of the Upper Corentyne and New Amsterdam/Canje match which is scheduled to be played this weekend.