National youth players Raymond Perez and Ronaldo Renee both struck unbeaten half-centuries to give Demerara a solid start in their pursuit of Berbice’s first innings total of 198 on day two of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-19, Three-day Inter-county tournament at the Everest ground on Monday.
Ronaldo Renee raises his bat after reaching his second fifty of the tournament
Due to rain, play only began at 15:00h and 41 overs were bowled. At stumps, Demerara had reached 170 without loss.
Raymond Perez (left) and Ronaldo Renee leave the field after their unbroken 170-run stand for the first wicket
Perez and Renee were unbeaten on 64 (4x4s) and 89 (11x4s) respectively, as their team trailed by 28 runs.
When the day began, Demerara resumed on 38 without loss with Perez was on 18 and Renee on 11.
The pair batted smartly in the overcast conditions, as Renee in particular looked to be aggressive against the spinners with some lovely sweep shots and cuts.
He tugged Asif Ali behind square to bring up the first boundary of the day and the team’s fifty in the 21st over.
The diminutive right-hander continued to manipulate the field in style to bring-up his second half-century of the tournament off just 97 balls, inclusive of six fours. He spent 126 minutes compiling the fifty.
At the other end, Perez match Renee with some sweetly timed straight drives as he moved on to his fifty with powerful pull through mid-wicket off spinner Brandon Persaud.
At that point he faced 122 balls, hit three fours and spent 180 minutes at the crease, and Demerara were now 148 without loss.
After the duo took their opening partnership stand pass the 150 mark in the 49th over, they began to look more aggressive, but the soggy outfield prevented many of the powerfully struck balls from reaching the boundary.
Both batmen will certainly begin today hoping first to secure first innings points for their team then hopefully reach the triple-figure mark.
Over at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, a wet outfield prevented any play between Essequibo and the Select Under-17s. Essequibo had ended day one 72 without loss in pursuit of the Under-17s’ 243.
Mark Williams on 57 and Nathan Persaud on 15 will look to clear the deficit of 171 runs if weather permits today.
