Hemraj misses ton, but Demerara in control against Essequibo
CHANDRAPAUL Hemraj missed his second consecutive ton at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday, but Demerara were still in control at the end of the second day of their second round Guyana Cricket Board-organised, GTM-sponsored Under-19 Inter-county three-day matchup.
Scores to date; Demerara 184 and 72 for 3, Essequibo 96.
After bowling Demerara out for 184, of which Hemraj top-scored with 99, Essequibo’s reply got off to a disastrous start, when they lost Mark Gonsalves (0) who was caught by Neil Barry Jr at fine leg off the second ball of the first over bowled by Ogle, followed by Vijay Surujpaul (0) to be 0-2 after two overs, before they were bowled out for 96, 36 minutes after tea.
Ricardo Adams followed shortly after, caught by Christopher Surat, who had to run back to long on off Barry Jr without scoring, leaving Essequibo shakily placed on 4-3, as Anthony Adams joined Kevon Boodie who struck Barry Jr for four.
Boodie continued to fight for Essequibo, hitting Khan for two fours in one over before he was caught by Nannan at extra cover driving on the up at a delivery from medium pacer Kwame Crosse for 30, made off 44 deliveries with five fours.
He added 37 for the fourth wicket with Anthony Adams (5) who was caught by Hemraj at slip off Khan and when Raoul Rooplall was adjudged lbw to Nannan for 4, Essequibo were in tatters at 47 for 6 when Ronsford Beaton joined Greene.
At tea, Essequibo were 61 for 8, with Kevin Fredericks and Mark Tyrell the not-out batsman on 6 and 1 respectively with their team needing a further 123 runs for first innings points, which was reduced to 119 when Fredericks flicked Ogle for four through the vacant backward square leg position.
Essequibo’s first innings was all over for 96, despite some late hitting by Tyrell who was lbw to Nannan for 10, leaving Tulsieram Premnauth who also struck two fours, unbeaten on 9, against the bowling of Nannan who ended with 3-20.  There were two wickets each for Barry Jr and Khan for 13 and 24 runs respectively.
With a first-innings lead of 88 runs, Demerara began their second innings in a pugnacious manner, racing to 54 before they lost Steve Ramdass (15), Hemraj (20) and Surat (15) to be 64 for 3, ending the day on 72 for 3, with an overall lead of 160, with Crosse on 4 and Byron 3.
Earlier in the day, Demerara resumed on their overnight score of 103 for 3 with Hemraj on 61 and Jahron Byron 13 and lost Byron, who was bowled by Herry Greene off the final ball of the third over of the day’s play for 14. His partnership with Hemraj was worth 58 runs.
Hemraj responded by hitting Greene for two boundaries in separate overs to push his score to 81 and his team’s overall total to 133 for 4, with Kamesh Yadram, who replaced Byron, on 3 at the end of the first hours’ play.
Demerara lost Yadram, seven minutes after the water break, when he offered Greene a simple return catch. Demerara’s 150 was raised when Hemraj drove Tulsieram Premnauth for four in slightly overcast conditions as he inched closer to his second successive century at the venue.
He failed to get there, as he was caught by Tyrell at long on off Ricardo Adams, when he looked to hit his 204th ball to the boundary, after batting for 274 minutes and hitting 11 fours and one six for his 99.
His demise came at 166 for 7 in the 78th over and Essequibo only needed a further six overs, to wrap up Demerara’s innings as they removed Amir Khan (7), Raj Nannan (8) and Kevin Ogle (1), thanks to the bowling of skipper Anthony Adams who took 3-27 from 16.2 overs.
Ricardo Adams and Greene offered support with 2 for 15 and 2 for 28 respectively, as Essequibo restricted Demerara from scoring freely as they did the previous day, conceding 81 runs for the final seven wickets from 35.2 overs.