Sankar snares first 10-wicket haul as Demerara beat Essequibo
… Hetmyer hits first ton as Berbice also win

NATIONAL Under-19 leg-spinner Steven Sankar yesterday snared the first 10-wicket haul in this year’s Guyana Cricket Board-organised and sponsored Under-19 Inter-county three-day competition, as Demerara trounced Essequibo by an innings and 105 runs with a day and a session to spare.

Playing at the Demerara Cricket Club ground, Sankar first took 5 for 17, which together with Kevin Paul’s 2 for 5 and Keon Morris’ 2 for 47, bowled out Essequibo for 104 in their first innings, while Sankar returned to take 8 for 58 to bowl out the Cinderella County team, who were asked to follow-on with a deficit of 237, for 132 in their second innings.
At the Enmore Community Centre ground, national player Shimron Hetmyer struck the first ton of this year’s tournament to steer Berbice to 337 for 9 declared in reply to the 138 made by the Rest XI in their first innings, for a lead of 199 to which the Rest XI were bowled out for 111 in their second innings to hand Berbice victory by an innings and 88 runs.
At DCC in Queenstown, Essequibo commenced play on 23 for 1, with Ricardo Peters and Parmesh Parsotam unbeaten on 3 and 0 respectively and quickly lost Peters who was caught by Tagenarine Chanderpaul off Morris, as he failed to add to his total while five runs were added to the team’s total.
Despite this early setback, Parsotam and Shivindra Hemraj pushed the score to 63, with a few boundaries before Morris took a wonderful return catch above his head to account for Parsotam (10) at 61 for 3.
It soon became 77 for 9, as Sankar who was introduced into the attack in the 11th over of the day, had a double strike in his first two overs, sending back Hemraj who topscored with 32 (5×4), Keanu Harry (2), skipper Kemo Paul (0), Akil Wallace (4) and Travis Drakes (0), while Stephon Brown accounted for Paul Williams (5).
Some boisterous hitting from Ryan Adams 20 (2×6, 1×4), who added 27 for the final wicket with Akini Adams who was unbeaten on 7, pushed Essequibo over the 100-run mark, before Ryan Adams picked out Daniel Basdeo at mid-on off Kevin Paul to close the innings 36 minutes before lunch.
Asked to follow-on, Essequibo reached 13 for 1 at lunch, having lost Peters who was lbw to Basdeo without scoring, with Avenash Persaud unbeaten on 11 that included two fours and Kemo Paul yet to score.
After lunch, Avenash Persaud opened his shoulders and took the attack to the home team bowling, hitting boundaries at will, even though he lost his skipper, who was bowled by Sankar, after hitting the bowler for the two sixes he struck in his 12, at 29 for 2.
Avenash Persaud and Hemraj pushed the score to 57 for 2, which soon became 94 for 6, as Sankar ripped through their batting once again to send back Hemraj (2), Parsotam (2), Avenash Persaud for a topscore of 43 and Harry, who supported with 30 (3×4, 1×6).
Ryan Adams and Wallace (13, 2×6) pushed them past the 100-run mark, with their 18-run, seventh-wicket partnership before they were both dismissed, with Sankar accounting for Ryan Adams who struck two fours and a six in his 16 and Brown sending back Wallace, who was caught by Kemol Savory after hitting the previous delivery into the sightscreen.
Dutifully, it was Sankar who closed off the proceedings, when he had Drakes lbw without scoring at 132, to complete a solid day in the field for his team 24 minutes before the tea break, as they used a combined total of 44.4 overs, to secure the win with more than a session and today’s final day to spare.
At Enmore, Berbice resumed the day on 97 for 2 in search of first-innings points and got there before lunch, which was taken with their score on 254 for 5, thanks to Hetmyer and Ashok Homraj who stretched their overnight third-wicket partnership from 40 to 132.
Hetmyer finished with 125 (135 balls, 12×4, 3×6) and Homraj 59 (71 balls, 9×4), with Hetmyer reaching three figures off 120 balls, hitting 10 fours and three sixes, before they were both dismissed, even as skipper Shiraz Ramcharran and Viendra Gooniah carried Berbice to lunch with their scores being 27 and 1 respectively.
After lunch, Ramcharran posted his 50 from 105 balls with four fours, even as Berbice declared their first innings closed at 337 for 9 off 84 overs, with Renaldo Ali Mohammed, Gavin Moriah and Ryan Shun picking up two wickets each for 27, 36 and 52 runs respectively.
Batting a second time, Rest XI were bowled out for 111, as Berbice took the extra half hour available to them to complete the win, which they did by an innings and 88 runs, thanks to Arif Chan and Gooniah who took 3 wickets each for 17 and 20 runs respectively, backed by Parmanand Ramdass’ 2 for 11.

(By Calvin Roberts)