East Bank facing uphill task against Upper Corentyne

– Yadram, Clements slam commanding tons

At Everest, Upper Demerara/ East Bank are faced with an uphill task to surpass Upper Corentyne’s first innings score of 222, after they slipped to 75-4 at the close of play on the opening day of the penultimate round of the Jaguars Franchise League.

Despite a shot-filled 92 from national player Assad Fudadin which came off just 99 balls, Upper Corentyne only manage a total of just over 200. Only Clinton Pestano of the other batsmen supported well with 49.

Bowling for East Bank Demerara, once again the spearhead of their attack Steven Jacobs took 4/97 while fast bowling all-rounder Stephan Harris had 3/57 and Budan Baksh claimed 2/19.

Consistent East Bank batsman Danny Narayan closed on 30 not out in his team’s 75/4. So far Eon Hooper, who has impressed with the ball in this tournament has so far taken 2/8. East Bank trail by 147 runs with six wickets in hand and are letting a good position slip away after taking the early initiative.

While at the Tuschen Ground, In the day’s most important match, between leaders Lower Corentyne and second placed West Demerara, the former made 325 all out while the latter were in pursuit on 22 without loss.

Being played at the Tuschen ground, Devon Clements struck a commanding 143 (16×4) (5×6) to take tournament leaders out of a spot of bother after they were 104/5 at one stage. The consistent Seon Hetmyer scored 49 and Jonathan Foo struck a quick-fire 46 while Hakeem Hinds contributed 21.

Bowling for West Demerara, impressive fast bowler Romario Shephard took his second five wicket haul of the competition claiming 5/60 while Raymon Reifer had 3/83 and Rishi Looknauth took 2/80.

West Demerara will resume play today on 22/0 with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 10 and Chabiraj Ramcharran on eight.

At Cumberland, Berbice, Georgetown won the toss and batted first, reaching 243 all out off 53 overs. Captain Christopher Barnwell, continuing from the last round where he scored a patient century top scored with 91, while Dexter Solomon (42), Sunil Persaud (28), Robin Bacchus (25) and Andrew Light jr (23) all got useful starts without carrying on.

Bowling for West Berbice, Kyron Fraser, last round century maker, took 5/84, Collis Butts 3/36 and A Dutchin 2/32.

In reply, West Berbice reached 103 for 9 off 32 overs, with Andrew Dutchin scoring 36 and Leon Andrews 19. Christopher Barnwell, Devon Lord, Gajanan Suknanan and Kellon Carmichael have so far taken 2 wickets apiece.

At Imam Bacchus, East Coast Demerara made a competitive 316 all out with Guyana under 19 batsman Bhaskar Yadram stroking a commanding 118 and was given strong support from his older brother, Kamesh Yadram with 61 and Ameer Khan with an attractive 58. Bowling for Essequibo, Akinie Adams took 6/53.

Essequibo in reply, are on 40/2 at the close of play still trailing by 276 runs with eight wickets still in hand. All matches will resume at 9:30 hours today.