By Michelangelo Jacobus

– Essequibo bowled out for 83 against Berbice

A SUPERB  unbeaten 260 (219 balls) with 26 fours and 14 sixes  from Demerara’s U-19 skipper Bhaskar Yadram, along with 94 from opener Adrian Hinds, ensured their side a seemingly impregnable 445-8 at the end of the first day’s play in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Hand-in-Hand Inter-county U-19 tournament at the Everest Cricket ground.

Playing against a Guyana Select U-17 XI Yadram and Hinds were the anchors of the innings despite their teammates constantly throwing their wickets away. U-17 leg-spinner Niron Bissu was the pick of his side’s bowlers.

Opening the batting for Demerara were Hinds and his partner Robin Williams. The latter was the first to be caught and bowled for 20 by Nigel Deodat.

Hinds buckled down and continued to bat but vice-captain Sagar Hathiramani was the second wicket to fall, lbw to Seon Glasgow for 15.

This brought Yadram to the crease and with Hinds, they put the U-17 bowlers to task carrying Demerara to the lunch break without further loss.

When play resumed after lunch, Yadram and Hinds continued to take the attack to the opposition. However, upon reaching 90, the runs began to dry up for Hinds who became frustrated and eventually holed out to point off the bowling off Bissu.

Stephon Wilson joined Yadram at the crease but soon fell victim to Bissu, even with wickets starting to tumble around him, Yadram held the fort and showed that he was a class above all in an innings laced with 26 fours and 14 sixes.

Bissu quickly added two more victims, both holing out for scores of 1 and 5; Dwain Dick joined his skipper at the crease and contributed a valuable lower-innings knock of 30 until he was dismissed by Deodat.

Ashmead Nedd was dismissed for five but Qumar Torrington and Yadram saw Demerara to the end of the day’s play without further incident.

Over at the Lusignan ground, East Coast Demerara, Essequibo won the toss and decided to bat. However, their batting lineup struggled to cope with the Berbice bowlers, as they crumbled for a meagre 80 off 38 overs.

Quintin Sampson and national youth fast bowler Joshua Jones scored 18 and 13 respectively. Bowling for Berbice, Karran Arjpaul returned excellent figures of 3 for 3, while Keith Simpson and Kevin Sinclair grabbed 2 wickets for 3 and 6 runs respectively.

Berbice, in their first innings, reached 149 for 3 off 55 overs at close of play. Opening batsman, Alex Algoo is unbeaten on 83. He gained good support from Kevlon Anderson with 36.

The second day of round one in the 2018 GCB/Hand-in-Hand Under-19 Inter-county tournament continues today at the Lusignan and Everest grounds from 10:00hrs.