BERBICE produced an excellent bowling effort by defending 88 to preserve their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Dave West Indian Imports Inter-county Under-15 title yesterday at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, Bourda.

Berbice recovered brilliantly to bowl out Demerara for 53, to win by 35 runs.
Early morning rain eventually reduced the game to a 25 overs affair. The defending champions, asked to bat first, struggled from the onset.
They eventually put together 88-9 in their allotted overs. The opening pair of Mahendra Gopilall and Tomani Caeser added 24 for the first wicket before the latter was run out for four.

Thereafter, the Berbicians lost a cluster of wickets despite a few batsmen managing a start.
Leg-spinner Shafeek Khan (4-14) and left-arm spinner Nicholas Rajpat (3-15) combined to put the hosts, at that point, in a dominant position.
Jonathon Rampersaud (19), Gopilall (15), Zeynol Ramsammy (15), and Antoine Alexander (14), were the principal scorers.

In the run chase, the host batting collapsed inexplicably and spinelessly in 18.5 overs with Man-of-the-match, Jonathon Rampersaud bowling quite brilliantly.
In just one spell he claimed 2-15, but it was Caeser who created the most damage, with figures of 3-18. Boodram Lakeraj (2-5) and Alexander (1-12), contributed to the wicket tally.

Poor shot selection and the evidence of poor cricket was the hosts downfall, as Chandrapaul Rajpat top scored with just 9 for Demerara.
Meanwhile, coach Leslie Solomon said he is pleased with the performances of the team, adding that with the win, Berbice’s cricket is on the move.

At the presentation ceremony, Rampersaud was voted the Most Valuable Player.
Also, East Bank Demerara collected their winning trophy for the just concluded Demerara Inter-Association Under-17 tournament.