The National Under-17 Select Squad dominated day two of their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Hand-In-Hand Insurance Under-19 Inter-County Three-day Tournament on the back of a strong ninth wicket partnership between Reyaz Khan and Nigel Deodat.
This was followed by quality bowling which allowed for another feeble batting display by the Cinderalla County who were struggling at the close of play.
Khan was left stranded on 33, but added 55 with Deodat who scored 22 after the U17s lost two quick wickets earlier on the second morning at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary. They were eventually dismissed for 227 while Essequibo were 100-9 from 70 overs in their first innings.
Karan Arjpaul had remarkable figures of 9-22 in Demerara’s second innings
Resuming the day on 167-6, the u-17s lost Kevlon Anderson for 101 without him adding to his overnight score while skipper Ashmead Nedd made just one run before he was dismissed for three.
Bowling for Essequibo, Mahendra Persaud 3-34 and Joel Fortune 3-42 were the key wreckers while Lesley Allen snared 2-27.
By the end of the first session Essequibo had reached nine without loss, but was mesmerized by spin in the last two sessions, especially from captain Nedd who claimed 4-29 in his marathon spell of 33 overs while Anderson (3-5) in an eventful effort was responsible for three scalps. Pradesh Balkishun and Deodat have also claimed a wicket apiece.
Only Stephan Campbell (34) batted responsibly in a marathon innings which lasted more than 150 deliveries while Mahendra Persaud, who was dropped on naught smacked two boundaries in 21 as all the other batsmen had fallen for less than 20.
Over at Everest Cricket Club Ground, Demerara’s quest to retain the title has been put in limbo against Berbice after Karan Arjpaul made life uneasy for the hosts’ batsmen with a quality performance of 9-22.
Demerara ended on 95-9 from 48 overs, leading by 119 runs with one day of play remaining.
Replying to 190 made by the hosts, the visitors fell 24 runs short, compliments of quality bowling from national left arm orthodox spinner Keshram Seyhodan who took 6-67. He was aided by his skipper Bhaskar Yadram who ended with figures of 3-16.
Berbice skipper and leading batsman Kevin Sinclair was resilient in his top score of 97 while fast bowler Sylus Tyndall hit a cameo of 27 with three sixes and a four.
Demerara in their second innings set out to enhance their advantage when Gavin Boodwah and Ramnarine Chaturia took the score from 23-1 to 49-2.
Thereafter Karan Arjpaul applied pressure on Demerara who lost three quick wickets for just 26 runs, before Ronaldo Ali Mohamed and Richie Loooknauth attempted to repair the damage slowly taking the score to 90 before Arjpaul induced a false stroke from national youth player Ali Mohamed, to have him caught and bowled for a fighting 16.
Play gets underway today at 10:00h at both venues.
