Home team Demerara and Essequibo claimed second round victories in the latest action in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under 17 Inter- County Tournament on Friday.
At the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, Demerara completed a handsome 76-run victory over defending champions, Berbice to remain unbeaten.
Demerara got 23 from captain Sachin Singh at the top of the order after winning the toss and opting to bat. Andre Seepersaud supported with 32 and Navindra Persaud chipped in with 20 before Demerara were bowled out for 160 from their 50 overs.
The main tormentor against defending champions, Berice was Nyron Bissu who was adjudged Player of the Match for exceptional bowling
Bowling for Berbice, Nigel Deodat plucked out four scalps for 33 runs while Marvin Prashad (2-26) and Gourav Ramesh (2-35) supported nicely.
In reply, Berbice who beat the Select U-15 side in round one also at Bourda, failed to reach their target as they fell cheaply for 84 runs off 33.5 overs. The only batsman to offer resistance was the lone centurion in the tournament, Seon Glasgow who top scored with 21.
Demerara lower order held on to add valuable runs down the order at Bourda on Friday
When a huge effort was needed as Demerara were looking to defend their target, Man-of-the-match Nyron Bissu stepped up and bagged 4 wickets for 11 runs as he continues to have a good season.
In the other match of the day between the teams that lost their opening fixture two days earlier, Essequibo beat the Select U-15 side by 18 runs in another low scoring encounter at the Lusignan Community Centre ground, East Coast Demerara.
Essequibo won the toss and decided to have a bat and after 50 overs they reached 138 for 8. The main contributors were Ameer Singh and Saeed Hakh who each made 41.
Bowling for National Select Under-15, Jeremey Sandia grabbed 4 wickets for 16 runs, while the impressive Jonathan Rampersaud took 2 wickets for 25 runs; Thaddeus Lovell and Romel Datterdeen claimed a wicket each.
The National Select Under-15 squad failed to surpass the Essequibo total as they were only able to put up 120 all out in 49.4 overs. Jonathan Rampersaud came back with the bat to stroke the top score of 26 while Nicholas Rajpat 16, Moahendra Gopilall 14 and Romel Datterdeen 12 got starts but failed to see their team home.
They were held up by steady bowling from Badesh Parsotam who picked up 4 for 11 runs and gained great assistance from team members Manoj Basrath with 3 for 15 while Sylvan Williams, Saeed Hakh and Captain, Lance Roberts collected a wicket each.
Parsotam collected the Man of the Match award for his superb effort of 4 for 11.
The third and final round which is slated for Sunday March 11 will see the unbeaten Demerara taking on the Select U-15 Team at Bourda and defending champions, Berbice meeting Essequibo at Everest.
Both matches begin at 09:30h.
