Tons for Chanderpaul, Barnwell and Nandan in rain-interrupted encounters

THREE batsmen struck tons for their respective clubs, when the latest round of action in the Georgetown Cricket Association/Hadi’s World Inc. first division two-day competition continued but was interrupted by rain last weekend.Everest Cricket Club, Transport Sports Club (TSC) and Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) were all forced to settle for first-innings points, after seeing Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Devon Nandan and Christopher Barnwell notch up tons.
Heavy overnight and intermittent rain throughout the afternoon condemned all three matches to draws, with not a ball bowled on the second day at DCC in their contest against GNIC. A wet ground denied the home team a possible win, after GNIC were asked to follow-on.
Batting first, DCC made 352-7 declared on the back of a typically pugnacious 165 from their skipper and national all-rounder Christopher Barnwell, backed by Jahron Byron’s 76 and 25 from Antonell Atwell.
Alistair Ifill took 3 for 71 and Jermaine Grovesnor 2 for 74 for GNIC, who were then dismissed for 167 at the close of play, with Collis Butts 46 and 25 each from Ifill and Marc Nicholson.
At Camp Road, Chanderpaul resumed on 131 and added 124 for the fourth wicket with Joseph Perry (59) before Everest eventually fell for 365 an hour after tea, in reply to GCC’s 172 at which time the umpires put a premature end to the fixture, with Chanderpaul going on to make 179.
Joseph Perry offered support to the national opener with his 59 and Troy Gonsalves chipped in with 37 against the bowling of Tariq Dharamlall who took 5 for 112 and Gavin Singh who picked up three wickets for GCC.
Earlier, Robin Bacchus topscored with 76 for the Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive-based Bourda Boys, receiving support from Ellon Fernandes who made an unbeaten 31 and Royston Alkins’ 29, as Christopher Surat took 3 for 15 for Everest.
At Eve Leary, Police batted first and were bowled out for 187, with Royan Fredericks 65 and Rawle Browne 40 showing resistance to Kevin Ross, 6 for 62, and Nandan 3 for 49, before TSC, who resumed the final day on 189 for 6, closed off their first innings on 254 all out.
The 29-year-old Nandan notched up an even ton that was decorated with 11 fours and four sixes and Azim Azeez contributed 51 to the team’s total, as Seon Daniels snared 3 for 27 with Randolph Knights and Kelvin Leitch picking up two wickets each.
In their second innings, PSC, who had won the GCA/Ansa McAl Carib Beer T20 tournament two weeks ago, were 114 for 6, led by an unbeaten 28 from Knights and 19 from Reginald Rodrigues.
The 39-year-old Ross returned to pick up 3 for 36 to end with a match-haul of 9-98 for TSC, backed by Keon Morris 2 for 22, as PSC fought valiantly to avoid defeat.