Beharry Group National U-19 Schools T20 cricket….

THE Beharry Group National U-19 schools T20 cricket tournament, organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, continued yesterday with the National play-offs at the Queen’s College ground.

A ceremony preceded the first of four games played on a hot Sunday in the City.

In the opening game, Abram’s Zuil Secondary crushed Covent Garden Secondary by 10 wickets.

Covent Garden, the first Guyanese School to attend the Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools tournament in 2002, batted first in sweltering heat and were restricted to 64-8

from 20 overs, as five batters made ducks.

A decent crowd watched as Extras made the biggest contribution to the East Bank Demerara Zone winner’s paltry total, with 18 of them being wides.

Nazeem Leham (15) and Joshua Hoasyx (12) were the only batters who reached double figures as Covent Gardens collapsed to 20-5.

Leham and Aden Lamoo (7) staged a mini-recovery with a 24- run partnership. But with the score on 44, Lamoo retired hurt to trigger another collapse as the last five wickets tumbled for just 20 runs.

Shivesh Bridgemohan (3-7) and Eshwar Tilak (2-3) bowled well for Abram’s Zuil Secondary who galloped to 65 without loss in 7.3 overs.

The Fredericks’ cousins, Ravid and Naveed, saw the Essequibo Coast school to an emphatic win with 12.3 overs to spare.

Ravid was in scintillating form, hitting six glorious fours and an effortless six in his unbeaten 41 from 24 balls.

Naveed played the supporting role with an undefeated seven.

In the day’s second match, host QC lost to Essequibo Secondary by eight wickets.

QC, which once played in the second division tournament and produced several first-class players like Roger Harper, Garfield Charles, Colwin Cort and Neil Barry, were limited to 70-9 when their 20 overs expired.

Only Nathandan Sukhnandan, who reached the boundary once and cleared it twice in his 22, offered token resistance.

Sixteen-year-old National U-19 player, Justin Dowlin (3-10), Aaron Sukham (2-10) and Ezekiel Morgow (2-6) were the main wicket-takers for the School that produced West Indies player Kemo Paul.

When the Essequibo Secondary School, located on the Island of Wakenaam, began their reply, they lost Jimaul Whyte (1), bowled by Afraz Ali at 19-1.

The classy Dowlin stroked two fours and five sixes in a well- compiled unbeaten 41 from 21 balls and added 26 with Bhomesh Lall, who hit two fours and a six in 17.

Sukhnandan bowled Lall at 44-3 before Man-of-the-Match Dowlin and Sukham (5) saw their team home.

In game three, West Side High School beat City School, St. Stanislaus College by 54 runs.

West Side High reached an imposing 162-6 from 20 overs with Shaquan Ceres (33), Romel Sukhnandan (20), Nathan Karamchand (20), Devendra Samaroo (32) and Ricardo

Danesar (38) all contributing good scores.

Sukhnandan and Danesar added 45 for the first wicket Aden Coonjah bowled Danesar to break the opening stand.

Sukhnandan and Samaroo shared in a 51 runs partnership for the second wicket before Noel Nihal bowled Sukhnandan at 96-2 in the 11 th over before Coonjah bowled Samaroo at 99-3.

Ceres and Karamchand added a further 46 for fifth wicket before Nihal trapped Ceres LBW at 152-5

Nihal took 3-19 and was supported by Coonjah 2-46 for Saints who were bowled for 108 in 19.4 overs despite a 66- run opening stand between Antonio Forde and Brendon Arjune.

When Samaroo bowled Forde for 29 with three fours and a six at 66-1, no batter apart from Arjune who made 24 with a four and two sixes, reached double figures as Saints lost nine

wickets for 20 runs.

Samaroo (3-11) while Karamchand and Danesar had two wickets each.

In the final game of the day Berbice Educational Institute

defeated Annandale Secondary by 35 runs.

BEI reached 150-7 with Lemuel De Jonge making 50 and Luke Amsterdam (brother of Isiah Thorne) getting 38 in second wicket stand of 76.

Kevin Singh and Sanjay Dindyal had two wickets each for Annandale Secondary who reached 115-7 with Joshua Bollers (42) and Ruel Dindyal (35) batting well. Jayhaden Rohlehr had 3-16, and Nicquan Fraser took 2-12 for BEI.

The knockout stage continues tomorrow with matches at QC, Albion, Affiance, and Wakenaam.