Berbice in sight of first-innings points over Rest XI … Demerara, Essequibo locked in battle

THANKS to a robust and unbeaten 64 from national player Shimron Hetmyer, Berbice were in sight of first-innings points at the end of the first day of their Guyana Cricket Board-organised and sponsored three-day Inter-county Under-19 fixture at the Enmore Community Centre ground yesterday.

At the Demerara Cricket Club ground in Queenstown, Demerara and Essequibo were locked in battle for first-innings points, after the home team who lost national opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul off the third ball of the day, rebounded to score 341 to which Essequibo were 23 for 1 in reply at the close.
At Enmore, the Rest XI were asked to take strike by the team from the Ancient County and were bowled out for 138 off 71.4 overs, with Travis Persaud topscoring with 31 (80 balls, 2×4) and Sunil Singh contributing 24, that also included two fours.
Persaud and Vishwanauth Ramkellawan added 36 for the fourth wicket, after the Rest XI, who lost Singh, Ryan Shun (10) and Avenash Seecharran (16) were reduced to 62 for 3, but when they were both dismissed, the Rest XI never recovered as Berbice skipper Shiraz Ramcharran took 4 for 10 and Arif Chan 2 for 27.
Hetmyer and Balchand Baldeo (8) then added 29 for the first wicket before Baldeo was dismissed, following which Hetmyer added 28 for the second wicket with David Latchaya (6), before he too was dismissed.
However, Hetmyer found a useful ally in Ashok Homraj with whom he has so far added 40 for their unbroken third-wicket partnership, realising his 50 from 68 balls with eight fours and one six, before progressing to 64 at the close of play, while Homraj is unbeaten on 16 with three fours.

USEFUL
Asked to bat first by Essequibo, Demerara saw Chanderpaul, who along with Hetmyer, is a player with first class experience in this competition, get a thick outside edge off the lively Kemo Paul straight into the waiting hands of Akil Wallace at second slip, before he had scored.
Skipper Brian Sattaur, who is known for his pugnacious batting style, did not relent and took the attack to the Essequibians, hitting nine fours and two towering sixes in his 50 which took him 41 balls to accumulate, as he added 63 for the second wicket with Renaldo Renee 13 (3×4).
Renee was next to go, lbw to Akini Adams, who two balls before was struck by Sattaur over wide long on, while Sattaur himself struck one back to Ricardo Peters just before lunch, after aggregating 62 off 50 balls with nine fours and three sixes.
At lunch, Demerara were 143 for 3, with Rudolph Singh unbeaten on 38 (4×4, 2×6) and Shurfane Rutherford 24 which included two fours and a six off Keanu Harry, following which they took their pre-lunch time partnership from 57 to 77 after the break, before Singh, who faced 84 balls and struck two sixes and six fours in his 54, was caught at the wicket off Paul.
He was quickly followed by Rutherford 27 (2×4, 1×6) at 163 for 5, which became 181 for 6 when Stephon Brown was dismissed via lbw to Adams.
Some late-order batting from Kemol Savory and Steven Sankar who both made 44, Savory hitting four fours and two sixes and Sankar three fours and two sixes, coupled with Keon Morris’ unbeaten 59 (4×4, 2×6), piloted Demerara to their eventual total before they were dismissed off 85.4 overs.
Paul and Adams took 3 wickets each for 23 and 49 runs respectively, while Peters chipped in with his 2 for 43 for Essequibo, who at the close of play were 23 for 1, still needing 318 more runs for first-innings points, having lost Avenash Persaud who was caught by Rutherford off Kevin Paul for 14 (3×4), with Peters and Shivindra Hemraj unbeaten on 3 and 0 respectively.

(By Calvin Roberts)