Berbice crush Essequibo by innings in Inter-county Under-19 tournament

-President X1 face uphill task on final day

BALCHAND Baldeo’s unbeaten ton backed by devastating spells from their spinners enabled Berbice to power to an innings and 2-run victory inside two days over Essequibo, yesterday, in the third and final round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-19 three-day tournament at the Everest Cricket Club ground.

Trailing by 217 runs after Berbice made 339 all out in their first innings in reply to the Cinderella County’s 122 for 9, the Essequibians fared better in their second innings, but still capitulated to 215 all out in 61.2 overs.
Off-spinner David Latchaya finished with a flattering 4 for 8 and Arif Chand 2 for 3, even as Baldeo, Viendra Gooniah and Dimitri Cameron picked up a wicket each for the Ancient County side.
Skipper Kemo Paul hit the top score of 76 (19×4, 2×6) for Essequibo, Travis Drakes made 35, while openers Ricardo Peters and Avenash Persaud made 24 apiece, but the rest of the batsmen were undermined by the clever spin bowling on a pitch, that offered some turn and generous bounce.
Starting the day at 168-6, the Berbicians made a confident start and were successful in their plan to bat Essequibo out of the contest, with Basdeo who resumed on 64, completing a well-deserved century stroking his way to an unbeaten 177 (225 balls, 12×4, 5×6).
Essequibo had been kept at bay for close to an hour-and-a-half in the morning session by Baldeo and fellow overnight batsman Hakeem Hinds who posted 96 for the sixth wicket, before Hinds was dismissed for 44.
Chan (3), Parmanand Ramdhan (2), Grisean Grant (7) and Cameron (6) were the other batsmen dismissed around Baldeo, as off-spinner Akil Wallace (4-101) was the best bowler on show for Essequibo who had the entire lunch break to regroup before they came out to bat.
Peters and Persaud added 53 for the first wicket, but in breaking that opening stand, the floodgates opened swiftly and Essequibo slipped to 87-5 and while the Berbicians were held up by a stand of 100 between Paul and Drakes which stemmed the tide, the spinners continued the demolition job, claiming the last five wickets for just 57 runs.

Uphill Task
Meanwhile, the President’s X1 closed the penultimate day against Demerara on 152-7, replying to the host’s massive first innings total of 407-7 declared, with Damion Waldron and Ronaldo Ali Mohammed unbeaten on 9 and 6 respectively, as they trailed Demerara by 255 runs.
The batsmen dismissed so far are Ryan Shun (8) Sunil Singh (43), Kareem Mentore (18), Avishkar Sewkarran (15), Nick Ramsaroop (36), Michael Shalim (14) and Vishwantal Ramlakhan (0).
Keon Morris (2-26) and Steven Sankar (2-40) were the main wicket takers to date for Demerara who resumed the day on 253-3 and swiftly built their innings even though they had lost four quick wickets in the first session, to declare their innings close at lunch.
Centurion, Tagenarine Chanderpaul had anchored the host’s innings with a compact approach in holding up his end, finishing on 167 scored off 344 balls with 15 fours and a six, as he featured in a productive fifth-wicket partnership with Kemol Savory, who hit a stroke-filled half-century to consolidate Demerara’s grip on the proceedings.
Chanderpaul’s overnight partner Deonarine Seegobin (5) was removed early, but the Chanderpaul-Savory duo kept the opposition busy and had no real difficulty against the weakened attack.
The right-hander, Savory 73-ball knock 66 was studded with five fours and a six, even as Steven Sankar (8) was the other Demerara batsman to be dismissed before the declaration came after 127 overs bowled.
Waldron was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4-128, while Ryan Shun got 2-46 and Daniel Lewis 1-65, and when play resumes today, Demerara will need a further 11 points to win the tournament overall, which can be another uphill task against a determined bunch of players.

(By Calvin Roberts )

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