DEFENDING Hand-in-Hand Under-19 3-day Inter-County champions Berbice had to settle for a draw with the Select U-17s after rain washed out most of day three at the Everest Cricket Club ground.

Berbice began the day on 292 for 4, with overnight batsman, Alex Algoo, looking to build on his unbeaten 119. During the morning session Algoo added another 56 runs before he was sent back to the pavilion by Select U-17 bowler Chandrapaul Ramraj, who eventually ended with figures of 2-104.

Niran Bissu then skittled out both Junior Sinclair (42 off 71 balls) and Jeetender Outar (6), to end with figures of 2-90.

Middle-order batsmen Kevlon Anderson and Seon Glasgow then batted aggressively in an attempt to increase Berbice’s chances of a win, with scores of 53 off 67 balls and 40 off 41 balls respectively. The defending champs eventually declared on 404 for 8, with a lead of 313.

With an enormous target to chase amid impending rain, a draw was inevitable as the Select U-17s team reached 39 for 3 off 13 overs when the rain finally stopped play.

Leon Swamy took all 3 wickets for just 16 runs.

In the first innings Berbice had gotten 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.

Berbice won the toss and elected to bat but Ramsammy and Sheldon Charles teamed up to 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.

Leg-spinner Ramsammy captured 3-18 from four overs while Charles’ fast bowling reaped figures of 3-29 (6 overs).

In their reply, Select U-17’s Ramsammy remained rock-solid and scored a resilient 58 while Mavendra Dindyial continued his good run of form by notching up yet another half-century (56) from just 67 deliveries laced with 10 boundaries. However, Berbice managed to restrict the U-17s to 218 all out on day two with Kelvin Umroa snaring 5-55 from 24.4 overs.

With a deficit of 91, Berbice took strike in their second innings and were led by opener Algoo (175) while Kevlon Anderson and Seon Glasgow helped their side to their eventual mammoth total.

The second round of the H-I-H Under-19 Inter-County 3-day tournament will continue on Saturday (May 4) at Lusignan with Essequibo battling Berbice while Select U-17 will face Demerara at GCC.