By Calvin Roberts
An authoritative and classy 83 along with the respectable figures of (2-21) from captain Royan Fredericks led Essequibo to a nail biting 10- run victory over Berbice in their final preliminary round game of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ GTM Under -19 Inter County limited overs competition at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground yesterday.
After losing the toss and being asked to take first strike by Berbice, Fredericks helped stedy his team’s innings as they reached a fighting 193-9 from their 50 overs then returned to snare 2-21 from 9.2 overs to ensure that his team completed the tournament the way they began it, with an upset victory.
In Essequibo’s innings, Fredericks who struck 11 fours and two sixes before he was bowled by Sahadeo Somai as he attempted to sweep a delivery pitched on his stumps, was ably assisted by Floyd Henry with 17 (1×4; 1×6) and Brian Cabose who made a fighting 16 that was decorated with two fours.
Bowling for Berbice, Keon Joseph took 2-29 and received admirable support from Somai who ended with 2-36. Eon Hooper (1-13), Seon Hetymyer (1-19), Jonathon Foo (1-25 and Krisendat Ramoo (1-27).
When Berbice began their reply, they were set back by some fast and accurate bowling from Triston Massena (2-26) which left them tottering on 1-3 at the end of the second over in their innings.
However, a 91-run fourth wicket partnership featuring Alex Amsterdam (69 9×4; 2×6) and Manoj Pooranauth (31. 3×4) helped restore some order and pride to the innings. But Ravindra Parsram struck two telling blows to the innings when he bowled Pooranauth and then had the dangerous Foo caught by Heyliger for 6 to leave Berbice on 103-5 in the 31st over.
When Amsterdam was smartly stumped by wicket keeper Parmeshwar Neel for a sturdy 69 and Anthony Bramble was smartly run out by Cabose for four, Berbice were 171-8 in the 46th over. Needing to ensure that Berbice didn’t score 18 runs from their last two overs to pull off a remarkable victory, Henry delivered a low full toss to Somai who obliged by hitting the ball to the boundary to help appease the situation for his team.
However, only three more runs could have been scored by the batsmen as Henry delivered a tight line and length which meant that they needed 11 runs to win from six balls. Fredericks stepped up to the plate to deliver the final over and after seeing Somai attempted to uppercut his first delivery to the boundary and missed, delivered the next one flat and fast to the wicket.
Celebrations began for the Cinderella County team as Somai missed and heard the sound of leather on timber that signalled the end of the game. Henry finished with 2-22 and along with Massena (2-26) and Parsram 2-45 ensured that the hard work put in by Fredericks during his team’s innings did not go in vain this time around.
