Surujnarine, Pereira and Motie see Cellink Berbice home
ONCE again, defending champions Cellink Berbice got their defence of the Guyana Cricket Board-organised Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Life Insurance (GTM)-sponsored Under-19 Inter-county three-day tournament off to a bright start when they defeated Essequibo by 97 runs at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.
Having taken first innings points over their opponents the previous afternoon, Cellink Berbice resumed the final day on 1 without loss, an overall lead of 74 runs which they carried to 268 for the loss of three wickets, before declaring their second innings closed 32 minutes after the lunch interval at 195 for 3.
Such a total was achievable, thanks to Kandasammy Surujnarine’s 68 along with Dominique Rikhi’s 46 and Jamal La Fleur’s unbeaten 35, before skipper Shawn Pereira who took 5 for 55 and Gudakesh Motie (4-45) sliced through the Essequibo batting lineup to bowl them out for 172 from 50.3 overs, even though Vijay Surujpaul made a resilient 51.
Surujnarine got two thick outside edges off first class fast bowler Ronsford Beaton past Surujpaul at second slip to the third man boundary for four in the first over of the day’s play, before the beanpole fast bowler bowled Veerapen Permaul (9) off the inside edge four overs later.
The ever-reliable Rikhi who top-scored with 90 in his team’s first-innings score of 312, joined Surujnarine and they added 94 for the second wicket, with Rikhi opening his account by steering Kevin Fredericks through the vacant point position for four.
The Berbicians were on a boundary-scoring spree, as they hunted quick runs with the view of having an early declaration, as Surujnarine, who posted his 50 from 83 deliveries and 116 minutes batting with seven fours, steered Beaton to third man for another one of his boundaries.
Cellink Berbice reached their first 50 from 10.1 overs and their second 16 overs later, but when they looked as if they would take the lunch break without any further loss of wickets, Surujnarine lost his balance and was smartly stumped by wicketkeeper Kevon Boodie off Surujpaul, one delivery before lunch.
All told, Surujnarine faced 103 deliveries and struck nine fours while he batted for 130 minutes, with Cellink Berbice going to lunch on 129 for 2, with Rikhi still there on 34.
Joemal La Fleur joined Rikhi after lunch and looked purposeful in his batting as he scored a run off all but two of his 29 balls, while they added 44 for the third wicket, before Rikhi who looked set to score his second half-century of the match, offered Anthony Adams a return catch which the bowler accepted.
The Essequibo team lost the services of Beaton who was a member of the West Indies Under-19 team which toured Dubai two months ago, when the bowler was given a second warning for running in the danger area while bowling from the Media Centre end of the ground.
They had the opportunity to remove La Fleur twice, when the bowler attempted to hit Anthony Adams over long on in successive overs, but the offers were grassed by Fredericks and Mark Gonsalves, and to rub salt into the wound, Clinton Pestano struck the bowler over long off for six in his next over.
At the time of the declaration, Pestano was on 18 and La Fleur had 35, while Surujpaul, Anthony Adams and Beaton took one wicket each for 11, 27 and 44 runs respectively.
Essequibo started brightly and reached 74 for 2 at tea, with Surujpaul and Anthony Adams being their not-out batsmen on 20 and 12, while they lost the wickets of Gonsalves and Boodie for 3 and 37 respectively, with the latter hitting five fours, before he was caught and bowled by Pereira.
When play resumed after tea, Essequibo were cruising along at 130 for 3, having lost Anthony Adams for 25 with four fours, a wicket that saw them lose three more without the addition of a run – Surujpaul, Seon Venture and Herry Greene – to be 130 for 7.
They entered the final hour’s play on 135 for 7 with Beaton on 12 and Ricardo Adams 8, but despite some resistance from Fredericks who struck two fours in his 24, it was all over when Mark Tyrell was caught at midwicket off Pereira who ended with match figures of 8-147. Motie had 9-95 for their team who took home 12 points for their win.
Essequibo will take on the Kwame Crosse-led Demerara team in their next match commencing tomorrow at the same venue.