By Rajiv Bisnauth
AN ABJECT batting display by Essequibo paved the way for a three-wicket victory by Berbice in round three of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Dave West Indian Exports Guy-NY Inter-county Under-15 match, played yesterday at the Enterprise Community Centre ground, East Coast Demerara.
A combination of good bowling and some injudicious shot-making by the Essequibo batsmen saw them routed for 112 in 43.3 overs.
Berbice then survived some testing periods, but eventually reached 116-7 with 17.2 overs to spare.
Essequibo won the toss and batted on a flat, dry-looking pitch, but their decision backfired, losing their first five wickets for just four runs before Lance Roberts and Mark Fredricks put up some fight, adding 49 runs for the sixth wicket.
Berbice bowlers, left-arm spinner Nigel Deodat (3-20), off-spinner Aaron Beharry (3-26), pacer Gevon Shultz (2-4) and off-spinner Seon Glasgow (1-22), all combined to decimate a clearly dispirited Essequibo side in which only Roberts (34), Ameer Singh (23) and Fredricks (13) offered any meaningful resistance.
Shultz gave Berbice the perfect start, removing Shaldon Charles without scoring. On a two-paced pitch, the Berbice bowlers put the brakes on the scoring and the batsmen panicked.
Deodat then bowled fellow opener Azim Mohamed for one. The pace-spin combination again accounted for the dismissal of Silvan Williams (2) and Bumeshwar Ramkissoon (0).
Amos Sarwan (2) was run-out after a mix-up with his partner Roberts, and at that stage Essequibo had already lost half their side in 4.2 overs.
Roberts and Fredricks then gave the innings some momentum and stopped the flow of dismissals for the next 16.2 overs. The pair batted with much comfort and commonsense, rotating the strike with ease and picking up the much-needed boundary when the bad balls were presented to them.
However, Beharry was then introduced and he completely confounded the middle- and lower-order. He discovered the turn available on the pitch, and immediately removed Roberts, Fredricks and Amel Lam (5).
Glasgow and Deodat accounted for the final two wickets of Singh and Bhadesh Parsotam (1).
When the run chase began, Jerron France and Fawaz Gafoor added 43 for the first wicket, but when both were dismissed to Silvan Williams and Charles for 10 and 16 respectively, Berbice lost their way somewhat.
Off-spinner Sarwan (4-38) then removed Marvan Prasad (3), Glasgow (11) and Chanderpaul Govindan (0) at 73-5.
However, skipper Shultz and Deodat added 29 valuable runs, and in the process took Berbice in sight of victory.
When Shultz was dismissed for 17 to Sarwan and Beharry went to Roberts for 2, Berbice were six runs short of the winning target. Deodat and Carl Gilgeous saw Berbice home at ease.
In the other match played at Wales, Demerara beat GCB President’s X1 by nine wickets. Scores: GCB President’s X1 36 all out, Demerara 39-1.
Berbice will now clash with Demerara in the final tomorrow at the GCC ground.