… Adams’ 8-wicket haul sets up crushing win for Essequibo

By Clifton Ross

A DREAM 5-wicket haul from national spinner Gudakesh Motie sealed a narrow 1-wicket victory for the West Berbicians in yesterday’s clash against Georgetown.

The Guyana Jaguars left-arm spinner strangled the home team with stingy returns of 5-29 from 10, keeping Georgetown to a modest 158 all out in 42 overs.

The Berbicians ended on 159 for 9 in 46 overs, enduring spinner Steven Sankar’s near-perfect 5-17, but in a winless situation as West Berbice eventually got over the line.

Failing to get off to the same start as they did on Sunday, the veteran city franchise were kept afloat by a robust 64 from all-rounder Chris Barnwell, who muscled three fours and two sixes.

West Berbice opener Kevin Sinclair got the ideal start to the chase with his two fours and a six in the top knock of 43.

When Sankar removed him a few runs shy of fifty, Leon Andrews and West Indies star Shimron Hetmyer both gifted their wickets away to part-timer Winston Forrester (2-32) for 19 and 18 respectively.

The Berbicians were well past the 100-run mark despite losing a few men in the process and Javed Karim’s defiant 32 helped keep the middle stable as Sankar dug into the tail.

Barnwell and Windies youth spinner Ashmead Nedd who grabbed a wicket apiece, did their best to curtail the chase as the tail-enders Steffon Adams and national pacer Keon Joseph saw their team over the line in a tense end.

Batting first after a later start due to the weather, Raymond Perez stroked 32 after the openers departed to Motie’s magic.

The former Windies U-19 spinner removed openers Forrester and Joshua Persaud for 9 and duck respectively. Former West Indies U-19 batsman Perez, crunched three fours before falling victim to Nigel Deodat (2-12).

Georgetown skipper Leon Johnson, who made a hundred in the last round, fell for a duck, trapped lbw by his younger teammate and one of his main bowlers  in regional cricket,

A confident Barnwell was due to score following his coming to form in recent rounds and his fifty which was well-timed, kept his side in contention, following the onslaught by the West Berbice spinners.

The home team laboured through the hard times on a tough pitch as their 50 saw them with four batsmen back in the pavilion.

Barnwell played a mature hand to reach a well-deserved half-century but as he ran out of partners, apart from the gutsy number 11, Torrington who made 13, not much was salvaged from the late start, coupled with the class of Motie.

At the Lusignan ground, Essequibo ran roughshod over a hapless East Coast, destroying them by a whopping 224 runs after a mind-boggling spell of 8 for 36 from all-rounder Ricardo Adams, who was the catalyst behind East Coast crashing to 59 all out in 18.2 overs.

Essequibo racked up a massive 283 for 6 batting first, thanks to their run machine Kemol Savory who slammed 84 to enter the last round as the leading run-scorer.

The wicketkeeper was well aided by some masterful knocks from opener Kevon Boodie who scored his third half-century (65) and the pinch-hitting showman in Quintin Sampson who clobbered seven sixes in his breezy 56.

Ricardo also thumped four sixes in his contribution of 42 earlier with the bat, to easily bag the MVP title and to take his team into the final round of what could be a successful title defence campaign for the Essequibians.

The seventh and final round is set for tomorrow when the champions will be crowned.