DESPITE a five-wicket haul from right-arm spinner Joemal La Fleur (5-27), defending champions Demerara came away with a hard-fought four-wicket victory over Cellink Berbice to retain their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised, GTM-sponsored three-day Under-19 Inter-county title yesterday at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary. Very early morning showers left some areas in the 30-yard circle as well as the boundary soggy, resulting in 270 minutes of play being lost. Play finally got under way at 15:30hrs with Demerara on 13 for 1 with Steve Ramdass and Chanderpaul Hemraj unbeaten on 2 and 3 respectively.
They lost Hemraj who added one run to his and the team’s total and Jahran Byron (0) in one over to La Fleur to be 13 for 3.
Skipper Kwame Crosse replaced Byron and drove La Fleur graciously to long on for four, before Ramdass was adjudged lbw to Gudakesh Motie who bowled his 13 overs unchanged to end with one for 16 in support to La Fleur.
Demerara reached 32 for 4 before Kamesh Yadram (2) and Dinesh Mangal (0) were dismissed, but that was the last hurrah for Cellink Berbice, as first class leg-spinner Amir Khan, who engineered the Ancient County team’s batting collapse the previous day with his second five-wicket haul of the match, joined Crosse.
The two West Indies Under-19 players held their nerves to steer their team to 51 for 6 from 32.2 overs, with Crosse tickling Motie to fine leg for four, while Khan pulled La Fleur over long on for six and completed the win with a four back over the head of Motie.
Crosse was unbeaten on 22 that included three fours, while Khan contributed 16 (1×4, 1×6) to his team’s total as Demerara, whose victory was watched by some members of the national Under-15 team, ended the tournament on 24 points, with Berbice ending as the runners-up on 12 and Essequibo, the third team in the tournament, zero.