BCB 2-day 1st Division: Brilliant Sinclair, Simpson spearhead RHT NAMILCO Thunderbolt to innings victory over Police

After an absence of four years, Two-day First-Division cricket returned to the Ancient County of Berbice. The powerful Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour team made an immediate impact in the tournament by crushing the Berbice Police team by an innings and 179 runs in the opening round.
Playing at the Area H Ground in blistering heat, the lawmen won the toss and elected to bat first. The home team opened their bowling with national under-15 fast bowler Raffel Mckenzie and left-arm spinner Keith Simpson. Mckenzie was replaced by national off-spinner Junior Sinclair after two overs, who, together with the talented Simpson, spun webs around the lawmen, bowling them out for a meagre 33. Simpson took five for 13 from six impressive overs while Sinclair took 4 for 11.

Sinclair and national under-17 batsman Romesh Bharrat then added 92 for the first wicket for the home team before Bharrat was caught at deep square leg off the bowling of C Mitchell for 35. Former national youth cricketer Javed Karim, playing his first match with his new club, was then dismissed for 15 for 145 for 2. National youth cricketer Matthew Pottaya then joined the aggressive Sinclair and they added a brisk 156 for the third wicket. Sinclair was unbeaten on 201, with 13 attractive boundaries and 15 sixes off 115 balls. Pottaya was unbeaten on a solid 45 when the declaration was made by RHT NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour Captain Clinton Pestano at 301 for 2..Bowling for the Police team, Mitchell took 1 for 64 and K Mentore 1 for 20.
Facing a deficit of 268 runs on first innings, Police fared a little better in their second innings as Simpson took five wickets for 20 runs to end with match figures of 10 for 33. Police were bowled out for 89, with only veteran Philbert Wilburg and I Burton offering any resistance. Wilburg, who was recently promoted to the position of Inspector, scored an unbeaten 31 with two sixes and three boundaries. Burton chipped in with 24, including two sixes. National selectee Sylus Tyndall supported Simpson with 3 for 20 in a very hostile spell of fast bowling while left-arm pacer Karim ended with two for 20.
Play in the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) two-day First-Division tournament is divided into two zones – Zone A and Zone B.
Zone A consists of West Berbice, Blairmont, Rose Hall Canje, Young Warriors and Tucber Park while Zone B involves Police, Albion, Port Mourant, Skeldon and Rose Hall Town NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour. The two top teams in each zone would advance to the semi-finals.