… Demerara ease past Essequibo
NATIONAL Under-19 left-arm orthodox spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai snared 5 for 14 as defending champions Cellink Berbice crushed the President’s XI by 78 runs in their Guyana Cricket Board Under-17 four-team limited overs match at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.
Batting first, the defending champions who had a comfortable victory over Essequibo in their first round game, scored 157 for 7 from their 35 overs thanks to Shailendra Shameer’s unbeaten half-century.
Motie returned with the ball to run through the President’s XI middle and lower order, as they struggled to score quickly before being limited to 79 for 7 from their 35 overs, of which Extras top-scored with 19, while Tevin Imloch made 17.
In the other encounter which was played at the Demerara Cricket Club ground, Demerara eased past a determined Essequibo by 31 runs, after reaching 143 for 8 from their 35 overs before bowling out the Cinderella County for 112 from 32.1 overs in reply.
At Everest, Shameer who struck five fours in his even half-century and Shiraz Ramcharran who made 32 pulled Cellink Berbice from the depths of trouble where they were 63 for 5 and carried them to 149 with their 86 runs sixth-wicket partnership before Ramcharran was dismissed.
Kevin Paul with 3 for 37 and Randy Yankanna who took 2 for 32 did the damage with the ball for the President’s XI, who found runs hard to come by when they batted, hitting a mere three fours in their innings, with two of them being struck by Shaquille Rigby who made 16 as Motie-Kanhai created problems with his flight and spin.
In Queenstown, Akasyha Persaud topscored with 27 (1×6, 1×4) and received support from Tagenarine Chanderpaul 21 (2×4), Arvin Seepersaud 20 (2×4), Michael Shalim 18 and Dexter George 15 in Demerara’s 143 for 8.
There were two wickets each for Raj Parbattie, Ricardo Peters and K. Harry for Essequibo who despite the batting of Devon George who struck five fours in his 32 and Peters 30 (4×4), fell 31 runs short of their opponent’s score, as Bernard Bailey grabbed four wickets and Persaud two.
The action continues today with Cellink Berbice facing Demerara at DCC while both Essequibo and the President’s XI would be looking to end the preliminary rounds on a successful note when they face each other at Everest.