Peter Grimes (85), Michael Kendall (52 and 4-0) and Ravi Narine 5-5 highlighted the first round of the Berbice zone of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Neal and Massey sponsored 40 overs first division cricket competition which got under way last Sunday in the Ancient County.
At Scotsburg, home team Scotsburg United defeated Kildonan by 93 runs thanks mainly to the all round performance of Kendall. Losing the toss and being asked to take first strike, Scotsburg scored 251-5 from their 40 overs with Grimes hitting 85 and Kendall 52. They had earlier received a 66 runs second wicket partnership from Berbice Under-19 opener Alex Amsterdam (21) and Clarence Beresford (27). Medium pacer Hemraj Mankarran took 2-54 for Kildonan who were then bowled out for 158 from 34.1 overs.
Somesh Mangru made 47 whilst Andrew Persaud 30 and Mankarran 26 offered support with the bat as Kendall 4-0 including a hat trick to reduce Kildonan from 147-5 to 147-9 from 1.1 overs.
At Bush Lot on the West Coast, West Berbice were too superior to Berbice Police Sports Club defeating the lawmen by five wickets in a rain reduced game.
Police were asked to take first strike and made 136-8 in 32 overs with Zaheer Moakan25, Imran Moakan 21 and Terrence De Cunha 20 being the principal scorers against the bowling of Berbice under-19 off spinner Krisendat Ramoo who took 3-13 and Kenje Sedoc 2-14.
West Berbice in reply reached 137-5 from 28 overs with Sedoc returning to slam 43. He received admirable support from Carlston Nurse (34) and Ramoo 21*. Imran Moakan who opened the bowling with his off spinners took 3-28 from seven overs.
On Saturday, Kildonan had the chance of creating an upset when they reduced Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar (RHWSB) to 140-6 in 25 overs in a game that was also reduced through early rain.
Batting first, RHWSB got to their eventual total courtesy of former national under-19 captain Andre Percival who made 30. Delbert Hicks and Berbice under-19 batsman Eon Hooper and Michael Rangasami with 26 each offered worthy support to Percival as off spinner Rajendra Ramcharitar 2-16 and Hemraj Mankarran 2-25 did the damage with the ball.
In reply, Kildonan were restricted to 76-9 from their 25 overs despite the efforts of Mankarran who stroked and unbeaten 28, which was not good enough as Ravi Narine (5-5) who along with former national under15 leg spinner Abdel Fudadin (2-12) and Renwick Batson 2-21 did enough damage with the ball to restrict Kildonan.
