DEFENDING champions Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Berbice were handed a shocking 91 runs defeat at the hands of Demerara yesterday, when the curtains came down on the inaugural Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) organised Limacol sponsored Under-15 competition at the Georgetown cricket Club ground.

The President’s XI also placed them in winners’ row, when they inflicted a massive 218 runs defeat on a hapless looking Essequibo team, when the two sides met at the Demerara Cricket Club ground in Queenstown.
Having taken first innings points from the defending champions in the all important final round encounter on the first day, Demerara resumed the final day yesterday on 35 without loss and pushed their score to 161 for 8 off 56 overs, before their innings was closed.
Skipper Bhaskar Yadram continued his impressive showing with the bat, by hitting three fours in his topscore of 71, with Clevon Mc Ewan 16*, Stephan Campbell 14 and Sagar Hetheramani 12* offering support.
Joel Seetaram took 4 for 48 for GT&T Berbice, who in reply were bowled out for 111 off 52.2 overs, with Adrian Sukhwah following up his first innings 45, with a patient 54 )5×4, 86balls) which landed him the Man of the Match award, while Matthew Hardial and Filon Crandon contributed 20 and 11 respectively.
Ronaldo Mohammed and Sagar Hetheramani took 3 wickets each for 17 and 28 runs respectively with Kevin Shewprasad chipping in with 2 for 25 for Demerara who ended on 43 points, in respect to GT&T Berbice’s 25.5 which earned them the runner up spot.
At DCC, the President’s XI who like Demerara had taken first innings lead over their opponents on the first day, began yesterday’s play on 26 without loss and moved to 134 for 9 off 45 overs, thanks to Raymond Perez’s 35 (2×4), Zaheer Ishan 23 (2×4, 1×6) and Andrew Clifford 19.
Sachin Persaud 5 for 42 and Besham Moses 4 for 44, did the damage with the ball for Essequibo, who were set a victory target of 256, but crumbled for a meagre 38 against the bowling of Richie Luknauth who took 5 for 19 and Darshan Persaud 2 for 17, after he had made 16 while adding 50 for the first wicket with Perez.
Luknauth and Moses were declared Men of the match, as President’s Xi finished in third position on 23 points while Essequibo ended with 5.
At the brief presentation ceremony that followed amidst some slight drizzles, Director of Sport Neil Kumar applauded the GCB for organizing the tournament, while he thanked the sponsors New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation for throwing their support into the Under-15 tournament.
“You the young cricketers are the next generation of Test players from Guyana and I wish to thank the sponsors for their support and the GCB for organising such a wonderful tournament, while I challenge you cricketers to go out there and represent Guyana proudly at the Under-15, 17and 19 levels, with the unflinching support from the Government.”
Marketing Director of New GPC Incorporated Trevor Bassoo also applauded the GCB for organising such a wonderful tournament, while pledging his Company’s support to the said tournament in the future.