Rikhi, Austin hit half-centuries for Cellink Berbice
DEFENDING Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised, Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Insurance (GTM)-sponsored, Under-19 Inter-county champions Cellink Berbice ended the first day of their first-round match against Essequibo in a strong position at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.
Middle order batsmen Dominic Rikhi who represented Guyana in last year’s tournament and Linden Austin were the architects behind the defending champions’ innings, hitting 90 and 86 not out respectively, as they added 105 for the fourth wicket to see their team to 264 for seven at the close.
Being asked to take first strike by their opponents, who hail from the Cinderella County, led by Anthony Adams with national first-class fast bowler Ronsford Beaton as his deputy, Cellink Berbice reached 62 for 2 at lunch from 25 overs.
Surujnarine Kandasammy, who struck Beaton for back-to-back boundaries in one over, counted three fours in his 25 while adding 36 for the first wicket with Veerapen Permaul before he was caught at the wicket by Kevon Boodie off Mark Tyrell who has so far taken 2 for 22.
The Boodie/Tyrell combination also accounted for Permaul after the batsman, who had earlier struck both Beaton and Kevin Fredericks for boundaries, was given out caught by Boodie, even though there was daylight between the bat and the ball.
Joemal La Fleur played at this level last year for his county and Guyana but he looked shaky in his start when he joined Rikhi, but they managed to see their team to the lunch break, without any further loss of wickets.
When play resumed, Rikhi and La Fleur extended their partnership to 51, before La Fleur was bowled by Adams for 21 that was decorated with two fours.
At 91 for 3, Essequibo must have scented a batting collapse, especially with the lesser known Austin strolling to the wicket to join Rikhi, but the pair from the Ancient County had other ideas in mind and took their team to 162 for 3 at tea, with Rikhi on 64 and Austin 38.
Rikhi posted the first half-century of this year’s tournament from 116 deliveries, hitting five fours while batting for 135 minutes, while Austin followed suit when play resumed after tea, before he lost Rikhi who was caught at backward squareleg off a Herry Greene full toss.
All told, Rikhi faced 177 balls hitting 11 fours while batting for 177 minutes in his 90, while Austin who was partnered by Clinton Pestano (11 not out) at the close, had struck 10 fours while batting for 158 minutes and facing 147 balls for his unbeaten 85.
Cellink Berbice lost Romario De Jonge (01), Kevin Ramdeen (10) and skipper Shawn Pereira (3) in quick succession to slip from 197 for 4 to 244 for 7, before Austin and Pestano saw them to safety at the close of play.
So far, Adams and Tyrell have so far taken two wickets each for 42 and 22 runs respectively while Beaton, who also played for the West Indies Under-19 team during their successful tour of Dubai two months earlier, has 1-77 from 17 overs.
Prior to the start of the match GTM’s Finance Controller Khemraj Goberdhan, who met both teams, lauded the GCB for organising the tournament which has been a feeder to the national senior team for the past 35 years.
“GTM is pleased to be associated with this tournament for the past 35 years, which to our mind is being used as a feeder to the Guyana senior team.
“Whether Guyana plays badly at the senior level and the West Indies win or lose GTM will always be pleased to be associated with this tournament, while we play an integral role in the developing of youth cricket in Guyana,” said Goberdhan.
East Coast’s Dinesh Mangal has been appointed Crosse’s deputy in the team which also includes first class leg-spinner Amir Khan along with Chanderpaul Hemraj and Jahron Byron, two batsmen who scored centuries against East Bank Demerara in the GCB Demerara Inter-Sub Association Under-19 tournament.
The Demerara squad reads:- Kwame Crosse (captain), Dinesh Mangal (vice-captain), Chanderpaul Hemraj, Christopher Surat, Arvin Seepersaud, Jahron Byron, Steven Ramdass, Raj Nanan, Amir Khan, Kamesh Yadram, Chandrika Persaud, Kevin Ogle, Neil Barry(Jnr), Royston Simon.
The standby players are John Patron, Jagdesh Bishun, Arif Habib and Alex Ramalho

SCOREBOARD

CELLINK BERBICE first innings
K. Surujnarine c wkp. Boodie b M. Tyrell    17
V. Permaul c wkp. Boodie b M. Tyrell    14
D. Rikhi c Venture b Green    90
J. La Fleur b A. Adams    22
L. Austin not out    86
R. De Jonge b Beaton    1
K. Ramdeen lbw b A. Adams    10
S. Pereira lbw b Surujpaul    3
C. Pestano not out    11
Total: 264 (for 7 wkts, off 90 overs)    264
Extras: (lb-1, w-6, nb-2, b-2)    11
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-41, 3-92, 197-4, 5-198, 6-228, 7-244, 
Bowling: R. Beaton 17-3-77-1, K. Fredericks 6-2-10-0, M. Tyrell 7-1-22-2, H. Mohamed 2-1-5-0, A. Adams 22-9-40-2, V. Surujpaul 14-3-51-1, R. Adams 2-0-6-0, S. Venture 1-0-1-0, H. Green 18-5-40-1.