THE Diplomats Sports Club, led by an unbeaten 71 from Nigel Simpson, fought back against the University of Guyana (UG) yesterday in the opening day of their Noble House Seafoods Second-Division two-day cricket fixture at the MYO ground.

The UG team batted first and chalked up a whopping 301-4 in 43.3 overs before they declared. At the close of play Simpson, who has so far played a mature innings, had pushed his side to 187-6 in 39 overs, still 114 runs in arrears.

Several batsmen exploded for the University team. Godfrey Thakurdin led the charge with 85. The opener spanked shots all around the small ground and struck 15 fours and two sixes.

For the first wicket, he and K. Roberts (18) added 61, while he and Ricardo David batted their team to an 84 third-wicket partnership, before David and Melroy Stephenson Jr tallied 86 for the fourth wicket.

David struck 13 fours in his innings of 76 while Stephenson hits eight fours in his 47 and Ershaad Ali (batting at five) hit 12 fours in an unbeaten knock of 57.
Rayson Gill, who got the wickets of Stephenson and David, finished with 2-54 from 8.3 overs.

Diplomats were in trouble early after losing their top three batsmen for four runs, but Deryck Babb and Simpson batted their team into the game with a fourth-wicket partnership of 50. The former scored 40 (7×4, 2×6) before he was bowled by K. Roberts.

The fall of Babb brought Ronaldo Gibson into the attack. He and Simpson exploded. For the fifth wicket, they added a quick 76. Gibson played well for his 28 (6×4), before Thakurdin bowled him.

Simpson continued to play his shots. To reach his half-century he spanked a six over cover. After accomplishing that milestone, though, he became more watchful.
By the close of play, he had lost A. Foster for 14, but Gill, who played a few shots behind the wicket, is still there on 22 (5×4).

Simpson has so far hit 10 fours and two sixes in an unbeaten knock of 71.