GCB’s Senior Inter-County 50-over tournament: Johnson, Bramble dominating the competition

By Brandon Corlette

After two rounds of the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB’s) Senior Inter-County 50-over tournament, Berbice are unbeaten, and are leading the charts with eight points. Demerara and Essequibo occupy respective second and third places, having each recorded one win and one defeat, while the President’s XI team are still looking for the light to guide them out of the cellar.

The dominant performers thus far are Leon Johnson and Anthony Bramble. Having scored a composed 51 against Berbice, Johnson followed that up by registering a majestic 153 against the President’s XI. And Bramble, the wicketkeeper-batsman who is opening the batting for Berbice, has registered scores of 106 and 62.
Essequibo’s Kemol Savory has been the other centurion, having scored 108 against the GCB President’s XI.

After their respective second round clash, Johnson of Demerara and Bramble of Berbice have been happy with their form. Bramble noted that the key to his success thus far has been playing a positive brand of cricket.
“It is a nice feeling to score runs in inter-county cricket, more so being able to do it for your county; so, it is pleasing for me to score runs for myself and my team, which I have been doing in my last two games. So, I must relish my opportunities,” Bramble has said.
“For me, I remain positive. I always choose the positive option. That is what I mostly told myself throughout that century and through the fifty. Just the positivity throughout the innings,” Bramble has said.

Sharing his sentiments on the return of senior inter-county cricket (SIC), Bramble has said: “It is a competition that has been away for quite some time. I know that we had franchise cricket, and this is where you have the best teams playing. It is more competitive and nice having it (SIC) back.”
Wicketkeeper-batsman Anthony Bramble has been plying his trade in the United States of America, and that has improved his game. “Playing in the United States, in those conditions where you have to adapt and adjust a lot, (has) helped me mentally, and improved my game for the last few months, because I have been playing cricket every week,” Bramble has said.
Delighted with his form, despite not having played cricket since June 2022, national captain Leon Johnson is eager to show his class as a batsman, and his high level of fitness. He reflected on his outings thus far at the 2022 Inter-County tournament, and expressed delight at his form, despite not playing cricket for some time.

“Feeling quite good! I was very disappointed in the way I got out and the amount of overs that were left on a good batting track, but, as I said, I am feeling in good form, even though I have not played cricket since the Regional Four-Day…finished in June. I had a lot of time to practice and get myself ready. It feels good to be back playing cricket,” Johnson has confessed.
Having scored 153 on Wednesday at Everest, his highest one-day Inter-County score, Johnson noted that the President’s XI’s attack was inexperienced, and he capitalised on that.
“The pitch was a bit tacky at the start. When I got out there, the two seamers were in operation, and they were bowling pretty well. I just wanted to stick that period out, and I know the (President’s XI) bowling was inexperienced. I looked at their game on YouTube a bit, so I know the attack was a bit inexperienced. So, once I played that part out, runs were there for me!” he has said.
The skipper is also happy with the return of inter-county cricket, which was last played in 2014. “Very pleasing to be back playing inter-county. We had the franchise league, but inter-county, you get the cream of the crop in Guyana’s senior male cricket. And even at the other game it showed, a very good Berbice side dominated us (Demerara). We never came out the blocks that day. We regrouped, and we saw the effort that we put out today,” Johnson explained.