Demerara bowled out for 190; Anderson rescues Select Under-17 with century

THE final round of the Guyana Cricket Board/Hand-in-Hand Under-19 Inter-county three-day tournament got off to a relatively prompt start yesterday, despite the current weather conditions.
This competitive round saw the commencement of battles between defending champions Demerara and Berbice at Everest, and the National Select Under-17 and Essequibo at the Police Sports Club ground.

At the Everest Cricket Club ground, Demerara won the toss and elected to bat first, but only managed 190 runs off 90.3 overs. Ramnarine Chatura hit a solid 53 off 98 balls, with three fours and three sixes. West Indies youth selectees Bhaskar Yadram and Joshua Persaud made 39 and 17 respectively, while Riche Looknauth contributed 21 and Raymond Perez 17.
Bowling for Berbice, left-arm spinner Keith Simpson grabbed 5 for 78 from 31 overs and off-spinner Kevin Sinclair took 5 for 32 from 38.3 overs.

Berbice in reply reached 19 for 1 at the close from 13 overs, Kevin Sinclair and Adrian Sukwah unbeaten on 12 and 1 respectively. Veramootoo was dismissed by Bhaskar Yadram for 3.
Over at the Police Sports Club ground at Eve Leary, the National Select Under-17 team attempted to capitalise on their option to bat first, but Essequibo had other plans as they sent back three of the Select Under-17 top-order wickets and held them at 45 for 3 after 33 overs at lunch.

The Select Under-17, despite a slight recovery were soon 68 for 5 before Kevlon Anderson, batting at number five, and Pradesh Ballkishun batting at number seven gave Select Under-17s a sixth-wicket partnership of 77. Ballkishun was soon caught at long off by Quentin Sampson off Mahendra Persaud for 24.
Kevlon Anderson continued to lead the Select Under-17 batting lineup, bringing up his century off 287 balls, with 13 boundaries.

Anderson finished the day’s play on an unbeaten 101 that rallied the National Select Under-17 to 167 for 6 from 107 overs. Essequibo’s bowlers have so far combined to produce a good team effort, with Mahendra Persaud taking two wickets, while receiving valuable support from Joshua Jones, Sheldon Charles, Lesley Allen and Joel Fortune, all with wicket apiece.
The matches continue today, with play on the second day at both the Everest and Police grounds starting at 10:00hrs.