50-over U-17 Inter-County title

LED by a brilliant 61 from 59 balls with nine fours and two sixes from Shamar Apple, Demerara romped to a six-wicket victory against Berbice in the final round of the GCB 50-over U-17 Inter-County tournament at the LBI ground yesterday.

Berbice fell for 124 in 27.4 overs with Romario Ramdeholl undefeated on 43 from 53 balls with six fours and a six.
Ramdeholl shared in a 63-run stand with Devin Lallbeharry, who hit five fours in 33 from 36 balls.

But only Chamesh Seenauth and Ravin Boodwah (11 each) of the other batters reached double figures.
Leg-spinner Dave Mohabir (4-10) and fast bowler Parmeshwar Ram (3-24) were the architects of destruction with the ball for the defending champions.

Demerara reached 128-4 with the 15-year-old Apple 61, Emmanuel Lewis 17 and Marcel Nandu 14 scoring the runs as Micah Amsterdam had 2-29 and Feaz Baksh took 2-45.
Chasing the small target, the home team lost Ram (4) at 4-1 in the first over before Lomar Seecharran and Apple joined forces.
Seecharran stroked off-spinner Ramdeholl for four, while Apple hammered Amsterdam to the ropes before stroking Arif Khan for a couple of boundaries.

The pair took the score to 42 when Seecharran (12) retired hurt.
Three runs later, Jonathan Mentore (3) fell to Baksh before Apple brought up the 50 with a scorching four off Baksh.
Marcel Nandu, the brother of national opener Matthew Nandu, joined the left-handed Apple who clobbered Baksh for a ferocious four to post his second 50 in the tournament.
But with the score on 93-2, Apple, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, missed one from Baksh and was trapped LBW for an entertaining 61, while Nandu (14) fell to Amsterdam at 116-4.

Emmanuel Lewis (17) and Munish Outer (1) saw their team to victory.
Earlier, Demerara had won the toss in overcast conditions and opted to field on a track with something in it for the bowlers.
The fast bowlers, Ram and Patrice Fraser, both from the West Demerara village of Meten-Meer-Zorg, justified that decision by sinking Berbice to 39-4 inside 10 overs.
Ram started the slide when Seenauth, who began with two boundaries off Ram, was caught and bowled for 11 at 15-1 as Ram had the last laugh.

Boodwah joined Vishaul Williams and steadied the ship with Boodwah hitting Fraser for four before stroking Ram for his second boundary.
Fraser, bowling with good pace, struck when he removed Boodwah (11) at 31-2 while the highly touted Adrian
Hetmyer (3) and Williams, who batted for close to an hour for his three runs, were both sent back in the 10th over by Ram.
Ramdeholl and Sohail Mohammed saw the 50 posted in the 11th over as Ramdeholl spanked Fraser for three glorious boundaries in the same over to bring up the landmark.

Mohammed (5) was beaten for a lack of pace and bowled by Jonathan Mentore at 55-5 in the 13th over.
Ramdeholl, with consecutive 50s in the tournament and Lallbeharry orchestrated ‘operation rebuild’ with Lallbeharry hitting off-spinner Danvir Seegobin for a delightful boundary before smashing Mentore for another four.
Ramdeholl deposited Mentore for the first six of the match as the pair stepped on the gas and the 100 was posted.
When Mohabir bowled Lallbeharry with the score on 118-6, Mohabir sliced through the lower order as the last five fell for just four runs. Ramdeholl ran out of partners when seven
short of a third half-century.

In the other game at the Transport ground, Essequibo beat the Select X1 by five wickets.
The Select X1 were dismissed for 181 in 43.5 overs with Richard Ramdeholl hitting seven fours and a six in his 49, while Shane Prince 24 and Nathaniel Ramsammy 17 were the other batters to pass 15.
Navindra Sankar had 4-47. Bomesh Lall and Shazim Mohammed took two wickets each.

Essequibo reached 185-5 with Nicholas Lovell making an unbeaten 55, while Jathniel Nurse (40) and Bomesh Lall (29) contributed to their team’s victory.