Scoreboard
Demerara 282

Berbice O/N 313-8

J Sinclair not out 92

N Smith b Barnwell 24

S Joseph b Barnwell 0

Extras 26 (b-1, lb-12, nb-13)

Total 330 off 94 overs

FoW: 330, 330,

Bowling
Torrington 10-2-32-1, Ali-Mohammed 14-3-63-2

Barnwell 19-3-54-4, Nedd 23-9-46-0, Sankar

11-0-54-1, Looknauth 15-2-68-2

Demerara 2nd Inns

S. Singh not out 37

M. Nandu c Anderson b Joseph 3

T Imlach b Smith 3

A Persaud LBW b K Sinclair 1

L Johnson not out 1

Extras: 12 (b-8, lb-8)

Total for 3 wkts 61 from 28.3 overs)

FoW: 14, 33, 40

Bowling:
Shepherd 6-4-7-0, Smith 8-1-12-1,

Joseph 5.3-2-13-1, Permaul 2-1-2-0

K Sinclair 7-3-11-1

Barnwell grabs 4-54 before rain cuts short play on day three

The truncated penultimate of GCB’ s 4-day Inter County first round began in bright sunshine before rain had the final say with the day’s played called at 16:15hrs with the vaunted Demerara top order failing to fire in overcast conditions yesterday at the Providence Stadium.

Demerara, who made 282 in their first innings to which Berbice replied with 330, were 61-3 from 28 overs when rain halted the day’s proceedings.

Opener Sachin Singh was on 37 from 87 balls with six fours while Skipper Leon Johnson, who struggled to get the ball of the square, was unbeaten on one from 29 balls.

Such was the dominance of the Berbice bowling attack that skipper and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul, the only bowler to capture over 500 First-Class wickets for Guyana, only delivered two overs yesterday.

Play is scheduled to commence at 09:00 hrs today, the final with the team starting with slim 13-run lead with seven wickets in hand.

It took Chris Barnwell and Demerara, 35 minutes to clean bowl Nail Smith (25) and Shamar Joseph (0) to dismiss Berbice as Junior Sinclair was left stranded eight short of a maiden Inter-County century.

Beginning the day on 84 with his team 313-8, Sinclair ran out of partners after facing 147 balls, batting for 214 minutes and reaching the boundary nine times and clearing it four times.

He shared in a 51-run ninth wicket stand with Smith who made 25 as Barnwell finished 4-54 while Richie Looknauth had 2-68 and Renaldo Ali-Mohammed 2-63.

Demerara began their second innings with a deficit 48 and had a bad start when their most inform batter, 19-year-old Matthew Nandu was pushed on his back foot by pacer Shamar Joseph and edged a catch to second slip at 14-1.

Singh and Tevin Imlach, who made 62 in the first innings, saw Demerara to Lunch 23-1 with Singh on 13 and Imlach on three.

After the Interval, Imlach (3) was bowled by Nail Smith at 33-2 before Akshaya Persaud, who averages 9.50 from eight First-Class innings, poor form continued with re-plays confirmed that he was struck ‘plumb’ in front to an arm-ball from Kevin Sinclair at 40-3.

Singh hit Shepherd for a boundary before hitting Smith for another as he was the only Demerara batter willing to counter attack. The left-handed DCC Opener continued to pick the bad balls and took a couple of fours off the lively Joseph.

Skipper Leon Johnson, who made his First-Class debut as a 16-year-old and has been playing at this level for two decades, joined Singh as conditions became increasingly overcast; conditions which the Berbice bowlers revelled in.

With Smith and Joseph producing prodigious lateral movement at good pace, Johnson looked uncertain as he was beaten outside his off stump on a number of occasions while the lively 23-year-old Joseph tested his Guyana Captain with a vicious bouncer.

Singh drove Joseph for four to post to 50 in the 25th over while Johnson struggled to get the ball off the square as Kevin Sinclair, in one of his best spells in ‘Red Ball’ cricket, extracted bounce and turn to the left-handers.

Johnson looked uncomfortable and survived a few LBW shouts off of Sinclair. When rain stopped play at 61-3 off 28.3 overs to the relief of the five Demerara supports in the Stands, Singh was on 37 with six fours, the only boundaries in the entire innings.

As the rain continued, Tea was taken at 14:00hrs. The rain halted briefly and the covers were removed from the pitch but the rain returned.