Essequibo were waging a spirited fight back on the third day of their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Senior Inter-County four-day cricket match against Berbice at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, reaching 186-5 in their second innings at the close of play.
They still require a further 217 more runs to make Berbice bat again and, with only five wickets in hand and today being the final day, their only realistic hope is to try and stave off an innings defeat.
Scores in the match so far: Essequibo 160 and 186-5, Berbice 563-4 declared.
Berbice, who yesterday declared their first innings closed on 563-4 in reply to Essequibo’s meagre 160, began the day on 523-3 with Assad Fudadin on 237 and Homchand Pooran on 79.
They soon lost Fudadin, who added only 10 to his overnight score before he was caught by Trevon Garraway at cover off the bowling of Zakie Salim.
His 247 came off of 323 balls, spanned 447 minutes and was decorated with 30 fours and seven sixes.
His fourth wicket partnership with Pooran was worth 268 runs and came off 47.4 overs.
Pooran, blossomed with the dismissal of Fudadin dispatching the bowlers to all parts of the field.
He raised his 100 by steering Garraway through the vacant gully region for four, to the delight of his teammates. He had batted for 206 minutes, faced 163 balls and counted 10 fours and one six in his unbeaten 102 at the declaration.
Bowling for Essequibo, Andrew Williams, who did not bowl yesterday, took 2-109 while Yogeshwar Lall (1-7) and Salim (1-63) were the other wicket-takers for Essequibo.
Batting a second time Essequibo reached 27 with out loss at lunch with the veteran Dinesh Joseph on 16 (3×4) and Yogeshwar Lall on eight.
After the break, Lall was forced to retire hurt at 36 after being struck on the ankle courtesy of an inside edge as he attempted to drive a delivery from Crandon.
This made way for Dellon Heyliger to join Joseph and the two posted 53 runs for the first wicket before Heyliger, who was dropped at cover by Imran Jafferally when on 11, was run out by the full length of the pitch.
He drove off spinner Royston Crandon to a deep mid off position and set off for a single, but to his dismay Joseph did not respond and he failed to beat the throw from Maxie de Jonge. He made 37 and Essequibo were 89-1.
Young Ryan Fredericks joined Joseph, but did not last long.
After seeing his team’s 100 posted from 42.1 overs, he pushed tentatively forward to a Royston Crandon delivery on the stroke of tea but only picked out Fudadin at forward short leg. He made eight and Essequibo were 102-2.
That soon became 103-4 as Rakesh Goberdhan and Wayne Osborne both fell to Royston Crandon in the space of 14 balls. Goberdhan, who looked solid in defence, went for a big shot down the ground but only succeeding in reaching wide mid on where Devendra Bishu took a comfortable catch, whilst Osborne was bowled as he too pushed tentatively forward and lost his middle stump.
With things looking bleak for Essequibo, Ramesh Narine and Joseph staged a recovery that lifted the spirits of their teammates.
They posted 74 runs for the fourth wicket with some sensible batting and running between the wickets, along with timely drives and pulls.
One such shot, a six over mid wicket off the bowling of Bishu from Joseph, brought up the batsman’s 50. He faced 143 balls, struck eight fours and a six from 246 minutes of batting.
Narine was also severe on anything short from the bowlers, as he too struck three sixes and four fours in his 50. But just when the two looked like batting their team to safety at the close, Joseph went for another pull shot from another one of Gordon’s short balls and picked out Fudadin. He made 64 from 383 minutes of batting, facing 178 balls and striking 10 fours and one six as Essequibo slipped to 177-5.
At the close which came at 17:15hrs due to bad light, Essequibo were 186-5 from 74 overs of which 22 were maidens, still 217 runs in arrears with Narine on 55 (4×4, 3×6 68 balls) and Rayon Thomas one (17 balls, 22 minutes) and will be looking to Narine and the lower order to rally out the final day as they attempt to stave off an defeat on a low, slow DCC wicket.
