By Rajiv Bisnauth

AFTER a disciplined show with the ball, Berbice chased a modest target of 133 with eight wickets in hand, to handsomely beat Essequibo in round one of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Inter-county Under-17 tournament yesterday at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground.Opener Javid Karim did the job in convincing fashion with an unbeaten 62-ball 54 to earn the player-of-the-match award.
The left-handed Karim scored freely on both sides of the wicket to ensure Berbice overhauled the target with 21.3 overs to spear.
Skipper Kevin Sinclair made an unbeaten 30, and shared 59 for the third wicket with Karim, who stroke seven classy boundaries.
Earlier it was a complete performance from the Berbice bowlers, especially their spinners who shared seven wickets between them as they restricted Essequibo to 132 in 47.1 overs.
Off-spinner Kevlon Anderson (3-14) and left-arm spinner Keith Simpson (2-29) were the chief destroyers, but left-arm spinner Kevin Omroa (1-16) and off-spinner Kevin Sinclair (1-13) both recorded stupendous figures of 1-16 and 1-13 to strangle Essequibo up front, with their 20 overs just going for 29 runs.
Medium pacers Sayaad Pairbaksh, who bowled with a suspect action and Steven Kalamadeen chipped in with figures of 2-26 and 1-30 respectively.
Openers Rayon Venture and Bomesh Ramdahin gave Essequibo a reasonable start, after skipper Joshua Jones won the toss and opted to make first use on a pitch which had a reputation for uneven bounce.
The pair added 23 in eight overs before Pairbaksh removed Ramdahin for 13 and Sinclair bowled Venture for 11 in quick succession to leave Essequibo floundering on 31-2.
Orlando Jailall, failed to make use of two chances and fell to Omroa for two off 18 deliveries.
Trevor Collins, who was given a life on three and Kevin Christian mounted some fight, putting together 28 for the fourth wicket.
But scoring runs proved to be a difficult task, Simpson did not ease the pressure and removed both Collins and Christian for 13 and 24 respectively, at 85-5.
At that point, Essequibo never looked like mounting a fightback, losing Chanderpaul Mohabir (11), Randy Rooplall (1) and Jones (1) to Anderson.
Quintin Sampson and Joel Fortune added 28 for the ninth wicket before Pairbaksh removed Sampson for 17 and Kalamadeen trapped Besham Moses leg-before-wicket for eight.
Alex Algoo and Karim then plundered the Essequibo attack to give a perfect start to Berbice’ chase with an entertaining stand of 40 in eight overs when lunch was taken, with Algoo on 13 and Karim on 21.
Upon resumption medium pacer Mohabir trapped Algoo plumb in front, but Junior Sinclair, who joined Karim put together 35 for the second wicket to further shut Essequibo out of the match.
However, the promising partnership was broken by left-arm spinner Fortune when he bowled Sinclair for 15. Skipper Sinclair and Karim took Berbice safely without further hiccups.
In the other game played at Wales, Demerara whipped the Selected Under-15 team by 142 runs.
Batting first Demerara were bowled out for 213 in 48.3 overs with Sagar Hatheramani (54), Kurt Lovell (44), Bhaskar Yadram (32) and Joshua Persaud (28) being the principal scorers.
Bowling for the Selected Under-15 team, Gevon Schultz had 3-48 while Seon Glasgow, Nigel Deodat and Dwayne Dick all picked up two wickets apiece.
In the run chase, the Selected Under-15 were bowled out for 71. Ashmead Nedd (3-10), Anthony Antonio (2-14) Man-of-the-Match Hatheramani (2-15) and Yadram (2-5) were the main destroyers for Demerara.
Round two will be played tomorrow with Essequibo taking on Demerara at Enterprise and Berbice battling the Selected Under-15 at Wales.