AFTER suffering a first-round defeat at the hands of Essequibo, who went on to lose their second match to Berbice, Demerara rebounded to defeat Berbice by 60 runs in an Under-19 fixture at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday. Batting first, Demerara, who lost Tagenarine Chanderpaul, run-out early in the innings and failing to trouble the scorers, scored 176 for 7 from their 27 overs, with Brian Sattaur leading the way with a pugnacious 70, that was decorated with eight sixes and two fours.
Mohan Ramdeen and skipper Chanderpaul Hemraj, who played one first class match for Guyana earlier this year, offered support to Sattaur, with the former making 41 (2×6, 2×4) and the latter 38 that included three sixes and two fours.
Karamchand Ramnarine and Lloydel Lewis took two wickets each for 6 and 36 runs respectively for the Ancient County team, who reached a painstaking 116 for 4 from their allotted overs.
National Under-17 opener Shimron Hetmyer stroked a classy 39 with three sixes and a similar number of fours, Linden Austin an unbeaten 33 (3×4), Kandasammy Surujnarine 16 and Shiraz Ramcharran an unbeaten 15.
Mark Rhobe took 2 for 17, while Omesh Dhanram and Dexter George shared the other two wickets that fell for the Berbicians, while conceding 16 and 32 runs respectively in the process.
At the same venue last Thursday, Demerara batted first in their encounter against Essequibo and were bowled out for 157, of which Kamesh Yadram top-scored with  44 (3×4, 2×6), while Chanderpaul, who is the son of West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made 31 (3×4).
Vijay Surujpaul took 3 for 21 for Essequibo, who were indebted to Ricardo Adams and Mark Gonsalves for their unbroken 118 fourth-wicket partnership, which piloted them to 160 for 3, and subsequently to an upset victory over their more illustrious opponents.
Adams struck four fours and three sixes in his innings, while Gonsalves also struck four fours and two sixes in his unbeaten innings, against the bowling of Bernard Bailey who took 2 for 36 for Demerara.
However, Essequibo’s good fortune ran out when they faced Berbice the following day, even though they put up a spirited effort to make it two out of two.
Berbice batted first and were bowled out for 133, with Shawn Pereira top-scoring with 33 (2×6, 1×4), Austin made 15 and Veerapen Permaul and Lewis 14 each.
Akel Willis took 4 for 8 and Adams 2 for 21 for Essequibo, who were bowled out for 109 in reply, with Adams leading the way with 34 (3×6, 2×4) and Surujpaul and Gonsalves 15 each against Permaul and Pereira who took three wickets each for 17 and 22 respectively and Gudakesh Motie 2 for 23.