MEDIUM-FAST bowler Shurfane Rutherford continues to be Demerara’s main strike bowler in the Guyana Cricket Board/Raj Singh Insurance Under-19 Inter-county tournament, with an impressive spell against the National Under-17 at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.Winning the toss and opting to bat first in hazy conditions, the National Under-17 reached 81 for the loss of Joshua Persaud’s wicket at the end of the extended lunch period, 151 for 5 at tea and 211 for 9 at the close of play, as Rutherford took 4 for 34, Ershad Alli 3 for 21 and Malcolm Hubbard 2 for 28 for Demerara.

Raymond Perez and Adrian Sukhwah, who were on 48 and 12 respectively at lunch after Joshua Persaud 10 (2×4) was sent back by Rutherford after adding 30 for the first wicket with Perez, went on to score 69 and 54 respectively, while skipper Ronaldo Ali-Mohammed is unbeaten on 42 (7×4).
At the Enmore Community Centre ground, point leaders Berbice tightened their grip on the trophy by dismissing Essequibo for 139 after they went to lunch at 94 for 2, before replying with 196 for 6 at the close of play.
At Camp Road, Sukhwah replaced Joshua Persaud and after a nervous start, dug deep to partner Perez who struck two fours off Hubbard and another off Daniel Basdeo, as their second-wicket partnership reached 51 at the lunch.
Perez reached his half-century two balls after lunch, when he punched Carlton Jacques through cover point for his seventh four, batting for 137minutes and facing 125 balls, pushing the National Under-17 to 85 for 1 while their 100 was brought up in the 47th over.
Perez continued aggressively with an audacious drive through extra cover, beating two diving fielders for his ninth four off Travis Persaud, before he gifted his wicket away when he picked out the same Persaud at cover off Hubbard when well set for his maiden century at this level.
He batted for 204 minutes and faced 175 balls for his 69 that included nine fours, adding 94 for the second wicket with Sukhwah, who saw his team slip from 124 for 1 at Perez’s dismissal to 147 for 5, losing Steve Deonarine, Romaine Munniram and Timothy McAlmont without scoring.
Ershad Alli accounted for Deonarine and Munniram with Hubbard removing McAlmont, before Sukhwah posted his 50 from 200 minutes’ batting, during which time he struck four fours from 179 balls. Tea was taken with the Under-17 on 151 for 5, with Sukhwah 51 and Ali-Mohammed 0.
Sukhwah perished after the tea break, when he holed out to Basdeo at midwicket who took a running catch in windy conditions, for 54 (194 balls, 4×4) but Ashmead Nedd underlined his ability as a budding all-rounder by pulling Alli for two fours with ease at 166 for 6.
Demerara took the second new ball in the curtailed final session of play, at 178 for 6 with Ali-Mohammed on 11 and Nedd 12 and they got success, when Rutherford produced a beauty in the second over with the new ball to trap Nedd lbw for 14 (3×4) at 184 for 7.
Back-to-back boundaries from Ali-Mohammed off Jacques, brought up the 200 for the Under-17, but they quickly lost Sagar Hetheramani (0) and Joshua Jones (2) to Rutherford, who was later struck for two fours by Ali-Mohammed, as the Under-17 reached 211 for 9 at the close of play.
At Enmore, Essequibo coasted comfortably to 94 for 2 at lunch, with Parmesh Parsotam on 47 (4×4, 1×6) and Travis Drakes yet to score, after losing the wickets of Nathan Persaud 19 (3×4) and skipper Kemo Paul 30 (5×4, 1×6).
But the Cinderella County team, who like their opponents had a convincing second round victory to boost their chances of claiming the title, lost their way after the lunch break, losing eight wickets for 43 runs.
Parsotam failed to add to his lunchtime score, while Jonathan Fernandes made 18, as Grisean Grant, Leon Andrews and Kassim Khan had 3 wickets each for 14, 30 and 32 runs respectively for the Berbicians, who at tea were 55 for 1, with Balchand Baldeo on 32 (6×4) and skipper Shimron Hetmyer 4.
Baldeo failed to add to his teatime score for Berbice, who also had contributions from Hetmyer 42 (4×4), Clifton Lindie 41 (3×4) and Parmanand Ramdhan 31 (27 balls, 3×6, 2×4), with Khan (10) and Daniel Lewis (2) being their not-out batsmen.
For Essequibo, Akini Adams has so far taken 3 for 29 while there was a wicket each for brothers Keanu and Denzil Harry and Looknauth Chinkoo.
Play will continue at 09:30hrs at Everest, and at 10:00hrs at Enmore today, the second day.

By Calvin Roberts