THE first round of Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Under-19 Inter-Association tourney bowled off with a number of top national youth players getting off to a terrific start on Monday. Over at Enmore, East Bank won the toss and took to the crease scoring a well composed 161 for 8 from their allotted 50 overs. Batting for East Bank, opening batsman Yeudister Persaud scored a constructed 44 decorated with three fours, and was braced by Mathew Nandu who contributed 40 while the other opener, National Under-19 player Sachin Singh, chipped in with 27. Orlando Giddings also added 16 to the team’s total. Bowling for East Coast, Chitram Balgobin was the most destructive bowler, grabbing 4 for 17 from 5 overs and supported by Trevon Charles who claimed 2 for 32. Chandrapaul Ramraj and Rudranauth Kisson took one wicket apiece.
In reply East coast fought to reach their target and only managed 156 all out from their allotted 50 overs. Andre Samaroo top-scored with 26 while he was supported by Romel Datterdeen, Rudranauth Kissoon and Alexandra Persaud who added 23, 23 and 20 respectively. Dindyal and Nandu were the leading wicket-takers collecting 3 for 13 and 3 for 19 respectively. Bissu also took 2 for 32. East Bank won by 5 runs. Meanwhile at Everest, Georgetown won the toss and elected to bat scoring a brilliant 167 for 6, off their reduced overs of 34 instead of 50, due to overnight showers and wet outfield. Alvin Mohabir top-scored with a well-constructed 72 not out while Dwain Dick supported with 36. Jaden Campbell and Aaron Beharry added 19 and 14, respectively.

Nityanand Mathew collected 3 for 24 from 4 overs while opening bowler Jeffrey Blair took 2 for 40. In reply, West Demerara struggled to reach their target and managed a meagre 68 all out from 24.4 overs. Andre Seepersaud 15 and Vishal Persaud 14 were the only batsman to score double figures while the other batsmen fell below 10. Bowling for Georgetown, Marlon Boele was the most successful bowler grabbing 3 for 9 while Bryon Bowen claimed 2 for 24. Georgetown won by a massive 101 runs. In the second round matches today, East Coast will face Georgetown at Enmore while East Bank will take on West Demerara at Everest. Both matches will start at 09:30hrs.