Sinclair grabs 7 wickets as Berbice beat Demerara by 27 runs
A mesmerising spell of bowling from West Indies off-spinner Kevin Sinclair spearheaded defending Champions Berbice to a 27-run victory over Demerara in the opening round of the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) 50-over cricket tournament yesterday at the Blairmont Community Centre in West Bank Berbice.
Sinclair shrugged off the disappointment of being removed from the Championship-winning Warriors’ squad in the recent CPL, by befuddling the Demerara batters on a slow, dry Blairmount track with a variable bounce to capture a career-best 7-15 from 9.5 overs as the visitors were bowled out for 105 in 25.5 overs in sweltering heat reply Berbice’s below par 132 all out in 32.4 overs.

Without three of their ‘big name’ players, Berbice failed to cope with a seemingly under-prepared pitch as only West Indies All-Rounder Romario Shepherd, top-scored with 26 from 42 balls with four boundaries.
Shepherd shared in partnerships of 25 with Seon Glasgow who was run out for 15 and with National pacer Clinton Pestano (10)
Berbice began badly on the fast outfield when Guyana U-19 left-hander Rampertab Ramnauth edged Qumar Torrington to second slip for a duck at 8-1.
Kevlon Anderson (7) was trapped lbw as Torrington struck again at 31-2 before Sinclair, who opened the batting; flicking Torrington into the packed stand lobbed a catch to cover off Sherfane Rutherford for 19 to leave Berbice on 43-3.

Seon Hetmyer, the older brother of Shimron Hetmyer, who according to the BCB missed yesterday’s game because he had to take his wife to the doctor, got going by pushing Torrington back over his head for a nonchalant six was looking good before he was bowled by Rutherford at 65-4 after the 50 came up in 10.3 overs.
Shepherd and homeboy Glasgow carried the score to 80 before Glasgow, who looked the best of the batters, was run out at 90-5.
But when Pestano departed at 115-6, Shepherd, Pestano and Motie (0) fell with the score on 115 before Berbice were eventually dismissed as Steven Sankar had 3-22.
Torrington and Rutherford supported the DCC leg-spinner, taking two wickets each.

When Demerara began their reply to the low total, they lost Test batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul (1) when he was bowled by Sinclair who opened the bowling.
West Indies U-19 Mavindra Dindyal (12) was lbw to Jamal Joseph who bowled with the pace to leave Demerara on 12-2.
Tevin Imlach (4) was run out by the keeper while Akshaya Persaud was lbw for a duck as Sinclair struck at 43-4 and also removed West Indies U-19 left-hander Mathew Nandu for 21 at 45-5
After that, only Richie Looknauth stroked Joseph for two fours before hitting Motie for back-to-back boundaries the last one bringing up the 100.

Looknauth quickly ran out of partners and ninth out for a top score of 36 with seven fours as Sinclair polished off the tail.
Berbice were also without Johnaton Foo who declined selection to give a younger player a chance, while Anthony Bramble also pulled out.
Today at Bourda, the select X1 face Essequibo for 9AM