DEFENDING champions Demerara endured a miserable opening day in round three of the 2018 GCB/Hand-in-Hand Insurance Under-19 Inter-county tournament yesterday.
Playing at Tuschen on the West Coast of Demerara, the defending champions won the toss and decided to bat but crumbled for a paltry 40 runs all out in 20.2 overs.

Kennard Moonsammy was the only double-figure batsman with 11 runs. Bowling for Essequibo, Joshua Jones and Joel Fortune picked up 3 wickets for 10 and 9 runs respectively and support also came from Quintin Sampson who took 2 for 9.

Essequibo, in reply, scored 143 all out in 41.1 overs. Vice-captain Kurt Lovell scored a composed 43, Quintin Sampson 31 and Joshua Jones 21. Bowling for Demerara, Sadik Khan and Ashmead Nedd swept up 5 wickets each for 42 and 43 runs respectively.

Demerara, in their second innings, got a little more comfortable, having scored 91 for 5 in 26 overs at stumps with Joshua Persaud 31 and Adrian Hinds 31. Bowling for Essequibo, Sherlon Anthony collected 2 for 11 while Shane Wong, Joel Fortune and Joshua Jones have so far collected one wicket each.

At the Everest ground, Berbice batted first and tallied 176 all out in 68.1 overs. The Select Under-17 bowlers dismissed the top order of the Berbice batting line-up cheaply, but it was Trevor Stanislaus and Leon Swamy who scored 47 runs each while Kevin Sinclair contributed 21 runs. Karan Arjpaul was not out on 10. Bowling for Select Under-17, Sheldon Charles picked up 3 for 20, Niron Bissu 2 for 12 while Sylvian Williams, Gevon Shultz, Nigel Deodat, Seon Glasgow and Andre Seepersaud each walked away with a wicket.

The Select Under-17 team, in their second innings, were at 76 for 4 at the end of over number 31 at close of play. Captain Sachin Singh scored 15 and Seon Glasgow contributed 18.
Day two of this round continues today from 10:00hrs at the various venues.