NATIONAL senior and West Indies Under-19 opener Shimron Hetmyer scored a magnificent century to lead his team Young Warriors (YW) to a convincing 6-wicket victory over Tucber Park in the Bobby Deonarine and Tom Gruntzel-sponsored Tenelec Inc. Round-robin fifty overs first division cricket competition.
In a must-win match for the victors, at Cumberland, Tucber Park won the toss and took first strike.
Their openers, former national youth batsmen Anthony D’Andrade and Joemal La Fleur, raced to 63 in 8 overs before the alter departed for 40.
Berbice senior all-rounder Devon Clements joined D’Andrade and the scoring continued before Clements departed for 30, slowing up the run rate and handing control to the YW’s spin attack.
After that, the run rate slowed as Young Warriors spinners took control.
Hakeem Hinds was run-out for 3, followed by Eugene La Fleur (13), D’Andrade for 65, Keon De Jesus 11, Niall Smith for 0 and Romario Shepherd 20, ending on 194 all out in 47.5 of their allotted 50 overs.
Former national youth all-rounder Linden Austin took 3 for 43, current national Under-19 all-rounder Kassim Khan, who was surprisingly left out of the West Indies Youth team, 2 for 23, and Seon Hetmyer 2 for 46 with one wicket apiece for Singh and Kevin Ramdeen.
Young Warriors began their chase carefully with Shimron Hetmyer and former Berbice inter-county centurion Maxie De Jonge.
The run rate picked up gradually with the hosts reaching their hundred in the 22nd over without losing a wicket.
YW lost their first wicket at 122 with De Jonge going for 31.
In the meantime, the young Hetmyer who is preparing for the upcoming regional four-day regional tournament started to dominate the bowling. Former Berbice youth batsman Waheid Edwards joined the prolific Hetmyer and took the score to 170 when Edwards went for 16.
Young Warriors then suffered a slight hiccup when they lost Gajanand Singh for 0 and Hetmyer for 118 with 9 fours and 6 sixes, in quick succession.
However, former national youth batsmen Kevin Ramdeen and Seon Hetmyer saw their team home, scoring 12 and 6 not out respectively. Youth pacer Niall Smith took 3 for 55. Young Warriors will play their playoff game at the Cumberland ground next Sunday.
Tucber Park ended up as the runners-up of the group and have also qualified for the next round.