The U-17 Select romped to a 71-run win over Essequibo while Berbice hammered Demerara by 119 runs when round two of the ongoing Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Hand-in-Hand U-19 50-Over Inter-County competition concluded on Tuesday.
Some 20 extras, 23 from skipper and opener Sachin Singh, coupled with Marvin Prashad’s gritty yet match-winning 63, did little to buff the U-17s’ innings as they were routed for 131 inside 48 overs.
Essequibo’s lethal bowling unit again played a key role in giving their side an early advantage, as Besham Moses (3-14); Joel Fortune (2-26) and Joshua Jones (1-10) starred with the ball.
Hand-in-Hand Insurance representative Sachin Kanhai presents the Man-of-the-Match award to Junior Sinclair
The chase turned out to be a hellish one as no batsman apart from Moses, who scored 12 way down the order, was able to reach double figures.
It was an overall dismal team outing, which saw them put on the worst batting performance to date as they succumbed for just 60 in 40 overs, losing by 71 runs.
Man of the Match Nigel Deodat snatched 4-17 with national U-15 pacer Sheldon Charles and Seon Glasgow bagging two wickets to help stem the flow of runs and wrap up a commanding win.
Essequibo never were in the game after bowling exceptionally well. None of their stars, namely the in-form duo of Captain and opener Kevin Christian (6) and his partner, Vice Captain Kurt Lovell (4), fired, thus making a meal of the relatively small target.
Earlier, the U-17s endured a tough time batting first as they lost six of their batsmen with less than 40 runs on the board. Singh hit two sixes before he was removed by Moses.
After the Essequibo bowlers scythed through the U-17 middle order, Prashad counterpunched with four sixes and five fours in his 85-ball knock which revived his team to a respectable total, before Moses and company wrapped up the innings on the stroke of lunch.
Over at Lusignan, brisk knocks from the Berbice top order took their side to an imposing 224 all out in their 50 overs. Alex Algoo (23); Junior Sinclair (61); Javed Karim (45) and Kevlon Anderson (22) led the batting charge.
For Demerara, it was the West Indies youth pair of pacer Qumar Torrington (3-20) and spinner Ashmead Nedd (2-37) who made a significant impression with the ball.
In reply, Demerara fell short by a whopping 119 runs, as they were kept to 105-10 in 38.1 overs. The futile chase was set up by top scorer, the in-form opener Adrian Hinds, who hit 32 with contributions from Stephon Wilson (18); Robin Williams (16) and Nedd (13).
