G/T beat East Bank, West Dem. whips U/Demerara
WATCHED by a large and raucous crowd at DCC yesterday, West Demerara Jaguars and Georgetown Panthers registered victories in the final preliminary round of the Demerara Cricket Board SVC/PSC T20 inter-Association cricket tournament.
Both teams will advance to today’s semi-finals at Meter-Meer-Zorg, on the West Coast Demerara.

Today’s semis will see unbeaten Georgetown facing East Bank Eagles from 09:00hrs, and East Coast Canje Pheasants taking on West Demerara Jaguars from 13:00hrs.
In the morning game, West Demerara beat Upper Demerara by 17 runs.
West Demerara elected to bat in sweltering heat on good track and lush green outfield, and were dismissed for 186 in 19 overs.

Sheldon Alexander top-scored with 45 from 27 balls with a four and five sixes, while skipper Akshaya Persaud, who made 43 from 27 balls, hit one four and five sixes.
Persaud added 61 with Ushardeva Balgobin, whose quick-fire 29 came from 16 balls, and was decorated with three fours and two sixes.

Richie Looknauth chipped in with 26 from 18 balls, with two fours and a six.
Pacer Nicolas Lawson, who struck early by removing Narendra Persaud for four at 16-1, took 4-50, while off spinner Shaquille Williams had 3-19 for Upper Demerara Scorpions, who reached 165-5 off 20 overs.

Man-of-the-Match Daniel Ross clobbered five fours and three sixes in a blistering unbeaten 55, and added 81 in an unfinished sixth-wicket stand with the elegant Romeo Deonarine, who hit one four and two sixes in his undefeated 31 from 24 balls.

But their spirited fight-back after joining forces when their team was in a deep hole at 84-5, after slipping from 71-2, was too little, too late.
Alvin Mohabir (35), Shacquille Williams (20), and Gariel McDonald (13) were the only other batters to reach double figures as Mahendra Danpaul 2-29 and Kishaun Tracy 2-33 helped the West Side team to victory.

G/T TRUMPS EAST BANK
The afternoon game saw an increase in home-team supporters.
East Bank elected to bat, and were off to a flying start despite 31-year-old pacer Carlos LaRose’s removal of Quazim Yusuf (5) at 6-1. The left-handed pair of Ricky Sergeant and Damian Vantull launched into the bowlers with all guns blazing.

Sergeant pulled LaRose when he bowled short, and twice drove him for four past extra cover when overcompensated and over-pitched in an expensive fourth over.
Vantull was not to be left out, and lofted Leon Andrews’ off-spin for an effortless six, and followed it up with an even bigger one two balls later, before sweeping him for four in an over which cost 16 runs.

At the end of the six-over power-play, East Bank were 44-1, but leg spinner Steve Sankar put the brakes on the scoring by inducing Vantull, on 19 with one four and two sixes, to ‘sky’ a googly for the bowler to wrap up a caught and bowled.
Jeremiah Scott hit his first ball to long-on, and Sankar was on a hat-trick and should have had Shamar Yearwood (8) when the left-hander ‘skied’ a googly, his own dropped catch costing him to miss the milestone.

Sankar then removed Sergeant, who struck four fours and a six in his 28, as East Bank slipped to 63-4.
Chris Barnwell ensured that Yearwood, Barnwell’s team-mate at DCC, did not make Georgetown pay for Sankar’s lapse when he trapped Yearwood, lbw for 12 at 80-5.

Leon Swamy (12) was the only other batter to reach double figures before he was bowled by left-arm spinner Devon Lord, who took a hat-trick; East Bank bowled out for 104 in 18.2 overs.
Lord finished with 4-13, while Sankar took 3-33 for the City side, who galloped to 105-1 in just 7.5 overs for an emphatic nine- wicket win.

Shemroy Barrington (10) got going with a couple of dismissive drives for boundary before pulling Swamy, hard but straight, to Yearwood at short mid-wicket at 10-1 in the first over.
But the experienced Barnwell joined the tournament’s leading run scorer Raymond Perez to feature in an unbroken 95-run partnership in just six overs, as boundaries rained at the small Queenstown venue.

When the carnage had finally subsided, much to the delight of a crowd not seen for First-Class matches at Providence, the 37-year-old Barnwell had blasted four sixes and three fours in a 24-ball pugnacious 43 to take the Man-of-the-Match award, while the classy Perez finished on 43 from 18 balls with seven boundaries, included four sixes.