By Kiev Chesney
A swashbuckling innings on 93 not out from Berbice skipper Eugene La Fleur led his team to the Guyana and Trinidad Mutual (GTM) Inter-County limited overs title after theydefeated arch rivals Demerara by 143 runs at the National Stadium at Providence yesterday.
Batting first Berbice reached 254 for 5 wickets off 50 overs and then restricted Demerara to 111-7 off their allotted overs.
The Berbicians needed to win handsomely in order to win the competition after they were upset by Essequibo, the third team in the competition and they did just that.
They ended with a superior net run rate of 1.33 to Demerara’s 0.94 and Essequibo’s 0.53 after the three teams were tied with one win each.
The win meant that the Berbicians had captured the double following their triumph in the three-day format of the competition held earlier. Berbice won the toss yesterday and elected to bat and were indebted to opener Eon Hooper who made 48 from 65 deliveries to give the innings the early impetus it needed.
And, while Alex Amsterdam made 20, it was La Fleur, coming in at number six who was to prove to be the match-winner.
The Berbice captain smashed his way to a quick-fire 93 which came off only 106 balls.
Stephen Latcha was Demerara’s leading wicket-taker, capturing three wickets from his allotted 10 overs.
Demerara looked to be on schedule in their reply but an unfortunate injury to key player Ranole Bourne who was run out for 23 proved to be the turning point of the match.
Bourne suffered an injury to his right leg after his bat and feet got tangled up whilst running between the wickets.
After Bourne fell to the ground a few metres short of his crease, he had to be carted off the field and rushed to the hospital.
The Demerara team did not seem to be the same after Bourne’s dismissal and could be observed playing defensive shots for the remainder of the innings.
Calvin Sookraj (29) and Elon Fernandes (18) were the leading scorers for Demerara while Leon Scott and Andre Stoll each captured two wickets and Keon Lake one.
Ryan Fredericks was adjudged player of the series as well as best batman while Jeetendra Sookdeo was adjudged best bowler.
President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh said that he was extremely pleased with the result of the competition as it was keenly contested by each team.
Singh added that the selectors would soon release a list of approximately 40 players from the two competitions to begin training for the Regional U-19 competition.
