UNBEATEN and resilient centuries from Essequibo skipper Kemo Paul and Berbice middle order batsman David Latchaya piloted their sides to come-from-behind second-round victories over President’s XI and Demerara, in their Guyana Cricket Board Inter-county Under-19 fixtures yesterday.

At the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, Paul stroked 10 fours and three sixes in his 118, which, along with Keanu Harry’s 42, steered Essequibo to 260 for 7 off 59.1 overs, after they bowled out the President’s XI who resumed the day on 112 for 6, for 161 from 66.1 overs, just before lunch.
This was mainly due to off-spinner Akil Wallace’s 5 for 74, which backed up his first-innings 5 for 76 as he ended with match figures of 10 for 150, even as Harry claimed 2 for 32 and Akini Adams 2 for 21 for Essequibo, who at lunch were 24 for 2, having lost Ricardo Peters 17 (4×4) and Avenash Persaud (0).
After the break, they lost wickets but Paul and Harry joined forces to add 63 for the fifth wicket, which did not only stabilise their run chase but also took them closer to the target, backed by 25 from Ryan Adams and 23 from Shivindra Hemraj, as Essequibo completed the victory by three wickets.
Daniel Lewis, 3 for 44, and Vivian Albert, 2 for 56, were the most successful bowlers for the President’s X1, who, in their final round game which bowls off tomorrow, will face Demerara at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground (GCC), while Essequibo take on Berbice at Everest.
Meanwhile, while Essequibo were coasting to their victory, Berbice were battling with Demerara at GCC, thanks mainly to Latchaya’s unbeaten 103 (207 balls, 11×4; 1×6), 61 from Ashkay Homraj and an even 50 from Viendra Gooniah.
The Ancient County team, who trailed their opponents by 54 runs on first innings, had erased that deficit at the end of the penultimate day and took a 49-run lead, commencing yesterday’s final day’s play on 103 for 3, with Gooniah on 35 and Latchaya 27.
The duo started positively, hitting boundaries at will. Gooniah posted his chanceless half-century from 177 balls with two fours, before he was caught by Kemol Savory at the wicket off Daniel Basdeo (3 for 51), but not before he added 84 valuable runs for the fourth wicket with Latchaya.
Enter Homraj, who is deemed the best young batsman in Guyana, to join Latchaya and immediately signalled his intentions to score rapidly, hitting Sankar and Kevin Paul for boundaries as Berbice reached 200 for 4 just before lunch, to further wrestle control of the match from Demerara.
At lunch, Berbice were 202 for 4 with Latchaya who got to his 50 from 139 balls, with six fours after being given several chances by the opposition fielders the previous day, and Homraj 35, the pair adding 63 for the fifth wicket while Berbice scoring a total of 99 runs off 27 overs in the session.
After the break, Homraj continued to assault the defending champions’ bowling at will, posting his 50 from 57 balls with six fours, before he became over-ambitious and was bowled by Basdeo at 248 for 5, with his contribution being a 69-ball 61 that included seven fours and a six off Basdeo.
Demerara took the new ball at 224 for 4 and this brought more runs for Berbice, who waited until Latchaya posted his ton with a six over mid-wicket off Basdeo from his 207th delivery, to declare their innings close at 265 for 5, scored off 90.2 overs, with Latchaya hitting 11 fours and one six.
Steven Sankar (1 for 70) and Kevin Paul (1 for 42) offered support to Basdeo in the bowling department for Demerara who took the tea break at 18 for 2, losing Renaldo Renee (5) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (7).
After the interval, they lost skipper Brian Sattaur (0), Rudolph Singh (0) and Savory (3) to be 22 for 5, as Shiraz Ramcharran (4 for 20) and Balchand Baldeo (4 for 30) spun webs and deceived the home team batsmen who were at sea, at will on a track that was offering much help to the spinners once the batsmen stayed stationery.
Shurfane Rutherford 25 (3×4, 1×6) fought back with boundaries off Baldeo and Ramcharran and together with Malcolm Hubbard (4) pushed the score to 35, before disaster struck once again as Demerara slipped to 50 for 8.
The pair of Ramcharran and Baldeo worked in tandem to account for Hubbard, Steven Sankar who got a ‘golden pair’ and Rutherford, before Keon Morris who was unbeaten on 6 (80 balls) and Basdeo (2) pushed the score to 62 in the final hour.
Basdeo was lbw to Gooniah (1 for 2) off the second ball of the third over in that period, leaving Morris and Kevin Paul to negotiate all that the Berbice bowlers threw at them to salvage a draw, a feat they achieved right up to the final over that was bowled by Niall Smith (1 for 2).
Written By Calvin Roberts