Shepherd leads Berbice to Senior inter-county Title at Providence
West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd’s four-wicket haul led Berbice to the senior inter-county title over Essequibo in the GCB Senior Male Super50 inter-county tournament played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The West Indies all-rounder’s opening burst put Essequibo on the back foot early, a position they never recovered from. His wickets included Essequibo’s in-form batsman Kemol Savory clean bowled for just 6 as he finished with figures of 4 for 26 off 8 overs.
Essequibo’s innings never got going as they were reduced to 57 for 9 in the 15th over when Ronsford Beaton was dismissed for 5. It was only until captain Antony Adams, who top scored with an unbeaten 23 was joined by last man Garfield Phillips that Essequibo showed some resistance.
The pair added 41 for the 10th wicket to take their total to 98 before Phillips was dismissed. Phillips was the only other batsman to reach double figures with 12. Also among the wickets was national fast bowler, Clinton Pestano, who opened the bowling with Shepherd, returning figures of 3 for 20 off 6 overs. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie took 2 for 18 off 8 overs.
Berbice, in reply, were led by attacking opening batsman, Anthony Bramble who gave Berbice a flying start by racing to 35 off 23 balls before he was the second wicket to fall. When he was dismissed, the score was 49 in just 5.2 overs. Kevin Sinclair, batting at number 5, finished on 24 not out to see Berbice over the line in the 16th over. West Indies fast bowler Keemo Paul bowled excellently to claim four of the five wickets to fall for Berbice finishing with figures of 4 for 30.
At the presentation ceremony held after the match, Romario Shepherd collected three awards: the Man of the Match, Most Wickets (9) and Most Valuable Player while Leon Johnson finished as the leading run-scorer with 233 runs.
This tournament marks the first time Senior Male inter-county cricket has been played since 2014 and it is expected to be used to select the Guyana Senior team (to be announced soon) to play in the CG Insurance Regional Super50 Tournament set to commence on October 29 in Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua. (Guyana Cricket Board press release)
