Brilliant all-round Ramsammy puts defending champs Berbice on the back-foot

DEFENDING Inter-County 3-day U-19 champions Berbice got off to a shaky start in their title defence as Select U-17 spinner Zeynul Ramsammy turned in a valuable performance with both bat and ball on day one of their first-round encounter, at the Everest Cricket Club (ECC) ground.

Select U-17 at stumps were leading by 58 runs with four wickets in hand after a good day in the field.

Berbice won the toss and elected to bat but could not string together an innings of substance as Ramsammy and Sheldon Charles struck at junctures to eventually bowl out the defending champions for a paltry 127 from just 36.2 overs.

Only Garfield Benjamin who top-scored with 32, Jetendra Outar (22) and Nigel Deodat with 21 got starts as the other batsmen failed to string together partnerships.
Ramsammy with his near unreadable leg-spin captured 3-18 from four overs while Charles’ fast bowling reaped figures of 3-29 from six overs.

In their reply, Select U-17 began with a solid opening partnership between Matthew Nandu and Ramsammy before the former was bowled by Junior Sinclair for 22. However, Ramsammy remained rock-solid and scored a resilient 58 before he too was bowled, by Kevlon Anderson. His knock included eight boundaries and spanned 109 deliveries.

Where Berbice failed miserably to string together partnerships, Select U-17 batsmen showed patience and determination. Mavendra Dindyial continued his good run of form by notching up yet another half-century, 56 from just 67 deliveries laced with 10 boundaries.
At the end of the day’s play, Select U-17 were on 185-6 (54 overs) leading by 58 runs with four wickets in hand.

When play resumes today at 10:00hrs, Niran Bissu (6 not out) and Sunil Chaitnarine (18 not out) will look to extend that lead.