A MESMERISING spell of spin bowling from discarded West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (6 for 13) saw Berbice dismantle Essequibo before going on to register a comfortable 10-wicket victory in their final preliminary round clash of this year’s Guyana Cricket Board/Pepsi Inter-county 50 overs tournament at the

Georgetown Cricket Club ground yesterday.
Essequibo won the toss and opted to bat first against the former champions – a choice that was backed by their openers in Kevon Boodie 35 (5×4) and skipper Royan Fredericks 22 (4×4), as they added 55 for the first wicket from 14 overs.
But they lost six wickets for 14 runs and never recovered, following which they were bowled out for 93 from 31.1 overs, as Bishoo ended with 6 for 13 and got support from Krisendat Ramoo who started the decapitation of the Cinderella County by removing both openers in successive overs to end with 2-29.
In reply, Anthony D’Andrade hit a belligerent 47 (7×4, 2×6) from 24 deliveries while skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon compiled 35 from 43 balls with six fours, as Berbice reached 94 without loss from 11.1 overs, booking a place in Sunday’s final at Albion, against the defending champions Demerara.
The start Essequibo got from Boodie and Fredericks certainly vindicated the latter’s decision to bat first on winning the toss, as they both struck national fast bowler Keon Joseph (1-19) for boundaries at the end of the  1st, 3rd and 5th overs.
Fredericks also got two of his five fours in the fourth over from Romario Shepherd-DeJonge, as Essequibo got to their 50 from 11.2 overs, with Fredericks on 18 and a solid-looking Boodie on 29, before disaster struck for the Cinderella County lads.
Ramoo removed both openers in similar fashion, caught at the wicket by Anthony Bramble, with Fredericks going off the first delivery of the 15th over and Boodie off the fifth delivery of the 17th over, with Ricardo Peters opening his account with a four off Ramoo, prior to Boodie’s demise at 68 for 2.
From there onwards, the rest of the Essequibians had no answer to Bishoo, who recently returned for a spinners’ camp with former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq in Barbados, as only Jason Heyliger 17, reached double figures.
The 17-year-old Peters (8) and Vishwanauth Lall (0) offered Chattergoon catching practice at slip, Dillon Heyliger (1) failed to read a slider and was lbw while Kemo Paul (0) found a googly as difficult to read as an Arabic examination paper in Saudi Arabia, as Essequibo lost 6 wickets for 14 runs.
Jason Heyliger fought back by hitting Ramoo and Eon Hooper (1 for 17) for four, but the wickets of Sheldon Alexander (5) and Anthony Adams (0) went to Hooper and Bishoo in that order, before he was joined by Herry Greene (2), with whom he added 7 for the ninth wicket.
Chattergoon thought he had seen enough and reintroduced Joseph into the attack – a move that paid dividends as the national fast bowler followed up a well-directed bouncer to Greene, with a pitched-up delivery which the batsman feathered through to Bramble.
Fittingly, Bishoo closed off things by dismissing Jason Heyliger with the first delivery of the 32nd over then watched as D’Andrade pulled a short delivery from Adams for six over squareleg, followed by two fours in the next over, while both D’Andrade and Chattergoon struck Greene for fours in his first over, pushing Berbice to 42 without loss after six overs.
Chattergoon swept Fredericks for two fours to a vacant fine leg position, bringing up his team’s 50 from 6.3 overs with the first, while he later struck a hat-trick of fours off Adams, to push Berbice to 73 without loss from 9.
D’Andrade took over proceedings and scored 14 off Lall’s second over, inclusive of a huge six over long on, before the win shortly after by Dillon Heyliger’s first delivery of the 12th over, to backward square leg for four, as the Berbicians used up three hours to demolish their opponents and book a place in the final.

SCORECARD

ESSEQUIBO innings
R. Fredericks c wkpr Bramble b Ramoo 22
K. Boodie c wkpr Bramble b Ramoo 35
R. Peters c Chattergoon b Bishoo 8
D. Heyliger lbw b Bishoo 1
V. Lall c Chattergoon b Bishoo 0
J. Heyliger b Bishoo 17
K. Paul c wkpr Bramble b Bishoo 0
S. Alexander c D’Andrade b Hooper 5
A. Adams c Foo b Bishoo 0
H. Greene c wkpr Bramble b Joseph 2
G. Moore not out 0
Extras: (w-3) 3
Total: (all out, off 31.1 overs) 93
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-68, 3-68, 4-68, 5-69, 6-69, 7-82, 8-86, 9-93.
Bowling: Joseph 4-1-19-1, Shepherd-DeJonge 2-0-15-0 (w-1), Hooper 9-3-17-1 (w-1), Ramoo 8-1-29-2 (w-1), Bishoo 8.1 -2-13-6.

BERBICE innings
S. Chattergoon not out 35
A. D’Andrade not out 47
Extras: (w-12) 12
Total: (without loss, off 11.1 overs) 94
Bowling: J. Heyliger 3-0-5-0 (w-1), Adams 3-0-33-0 (w-4), Greene 1-0-17-0, Fredericks 1-0-14-0 (w-1), Lall 2-0-18-0, Moore 1-0-2-0, D. Heyliger .1-0-5-0 (w-1).