Essequibo suffer second successive defeat
ESSEQUIBO suffered their second successive defeat in as many matches, when they succumbed to Demerara by 108 runs in their second round Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) organised GTM sponsored Under-19 three day Inter-county Under-19 tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence yesterday.
Scores in the match: Demerara 184 and 123, Essequibo 96 and 103. Earlier in the day, Demerara resumed on 72 for 3 with skipper Kwame Crosse and Jahran Byron on 4 and 2 respectively and lost Byron who was lbw to first class fast bowler Ronsford Beaton, after adding six to his overnight score, before they were bowled out for 123, just after lunch.
Byron’s demise was followed by the quick loss of Crosse (04), Kamesh Yadram (11) and Dinesh Mangal (00), as Demerara who were comfortably placed on 64 for 1 the previous day, slipped to 85 for 6, losing five wickets for 21 runs from 13.1 overs.
The 100 was realised in the 37th over, but Demerara lost Amir Khan and Raj Nannan who were both caught by Tulsieram Premnauth off Herry Greene who took 4 for 16, for 13 and 10 respectively and when rain forced the players off the field for an early lunch break, Demerara were 116 for 9 off 42 overs, an overall lead of 204.
The Cinderella County team, who lost their first round match to defending champions Cellink Berbice by 97 runs, took three deliveries to wrap up the Demerara innings for 123, when Greene trapped Kevin Ogle lbw for six, after the batsman hit the previous delivery for six.
Needing to score 212 to chalk up a come from behind victory, Essequibo reached 62 for 4 at tea, after losing Mark Gonsalves who struck Khan for two fours in successive overs in his 15, Kevon Boodie (24), Vijay Surujpaul (07) and Raul Rooplall 1.
Skipper Anthony Adams and his unrelated namesake Ricardo Adams were at the wicket on 5 and 4 respectively and after tea, Ricardo Adams struck Christopher Surat for a hat trick of boundaries in one over, as Essequibo moved to 79 for 4, before he was caught at forward short leg off Yadram for 17.
Anthony Adams followed shortly after, when he was bowled by Yadram as he looked to cut a delivery that was pitched outside his off stump for 15, before Ronsford Beaton raised the 100 with back to back fours off Yadram.
It was all over for the Essequibians at 16:30hrs, when Beaton was adjudged lbw to Nannan for 10, leaving Tulsieram Premnauth unbeaten on 00, as they were bowled out for 103, with Khan taking 4 for 16, while there were two wickets each for Hemraj, Yadram and Nannan for 10, 19 and 24 runs respectively.
With the win, Demerara joined defending champions Cellink Berbice at the top of the points table on 12 points each, making their final round clash which commences tomorrow at the Police Sports Club, an interesting one.