President’s XI battling to avoid defeat at Wales
… Demerara five wickets away from win

DEFENDING champions Demerara were five wickets away from recording a comprehensive victory over perennial whipping boys Essequibo, at the end of the first day of their Guyana Cricket Board/Igloo Ice-cream two-day Under-15 Inter-county contest at the Enmore Community Centre ground yesterday.At the Wales Community Centre ground, Berbice were large and in charge against President’s XI, who at the end of the day’s play were battling to avoid defeat, following another pathetic first-innings batting display.
At Enmore, Essequibo, who like the President’s XI were given a grace in their first-round match thanks to the rain, took first strike and managed a meagre 52 before being bowled out off 33 overs, with only Orlando Jailall’s 23 being of resistance to the Demerara bowling attack.
Pacer Colin Barlow took 3 for 3, Anthony Antonio 3 for 5 and national Under-15 left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd 2 for 17 for Demerara, who in reply reached 201 for 2 from their 38 overs, thanks to unbeaten innings from Kurt Lovell and the in-form Alphius Bookie.
Skipper Bhaskar Yadram 29 (3×4) and Reaz Ally 16 had earlier added 46 for the first wicket before Lovell, who struck eight fours in his unbeaten 70 and Bookie’s 66 which contained six fours, pushed Demerara to their eventual total when their overs ran out, added 149 for their unbroken third-wicket partnership.
Besham Moses and Punraj Coldhar took a wicket each for Essequibo, who in their second innings were reeling on 35 for 5 from 25 overs, with only Govindra Gobin’s 15 being of resistance to Nedd’s 3 for 12 and Barlow’s 2 for 7 for the defending champions.
At Wales, the President’s XI batted against Berbice and were scuttled out for 56 inside 29.1 overs, with Stephon Wilson 11 and Khemchand Hardyal 10 reaching double figures as Steven Kalamudin who took 5 for 19 and Kris Ramnarine 2 for 0 wrecked their batting, before Berbice raced to 129 for 7 from 46 overs.
Daneshwar Budhu topscored with 36 and got support from Alex Algu (24), Kevin Sinclair 15 and Kevon Anderson 10 not out, even as Junior Phillips took 4 for 29 and Hardyal 2 for 20 for President’s XI who reached 45 for 2 off 25 overs at the close of play.
Christopher Campbell is unbeaten on 24 along with Wilson who has 2, as they have so far added nine for the third wicket, after the President’s XI lost Anil Singh (2) and Mark Ramsammy (12) to be 36 for 2 in their second innings.
Play will continue on the final day today from 10:00hrs, with both Demerara and Berbice looking to secure the win they were prevented from achieving in the first round due to rain, thus setting up an exciting third and final round which bowls off on Saturday.