A magnificent innings of 174 by national player and former West Indies under-19 batsman Gajanand Singh has placed Young Warriors in a commanding position at the end of the first day of their Isaac Bissoon 2007 three-day first division cricket final against neighbours Rose Hall Community Centre at the Rose Hall Community centre ground yesterday.
At the end of the first day’s play, Young Warriors were comfortably placed on 397-6 with Ishwar Singh unbeaten on 11.
Young Warriors won the toss and elected to take first strike on the friendly batting pitch in bright sunshine on an under-prepared ground which was not conducive for a game in which two East Canje teams were meeting in a first division cricket final for the first time in Berbice.
The Warriors started their innings with Farouk Hussein and Richard Ramdeen, and were soon in trouble when Hussein was caught behind for seven off the bowling of former Guyana under-15 player Sanjay Khan with the score on eight.
Waheid Edwards then joined Ramdeen but they were soon 17-2 when Ramdeen went caught at the wicket off the bowling of pacer Rafeek Kassim. Singh who was arguably the best young batsman in the country, then joined Edwards and they proceeded to put the Rose Hall bowlers to the sword dashing any thought of any further inroads with a masterful display of batting in a third wicket partnership that was worth 182 runs.
Edwards who has been in good form this season with over 400 runs in the competition, including one century, made a well compiled 74 which was decorated with seven fours, before he went with the score on 199, caught and bowled by Khan.
All this time, Singh was going on his merry way with some exquisite shots to all parts of the ground and along with new batsman all-rounder Paul Wintz, continued the onslaught with the inform Singh who was coming off of a well played 89 in the semi-finals bringing up his century with a single to third man.
He and the inform Wintz then added a further 110 runs for the 4th wicket before Singh, who was well set for a double century, was caught at mid off by the probing Khan with the score on 309. He made 174 decorated with 15 fours and a single six.
National under-19 player Seon Hetmyer joined Wintz and they carried the score to 382 with a partnership of 73 before Hetmyer went lbw to Vishal Mohabir. Wintz who is the competition’s leading run scorer with over 600 runs to his credit, including two centuries, one of which was converted into a double and new batsman Ishwar Singh then took the score to 397. Then Wintz who was on 77 and three short of compiling 700 runs in the competition, tried a paddle sweep to pacer Kassim and had his leg stump uprooted leaving Ishwar Singh unbeaten on 11.
Young Warriors would have scored far in excess of the total they did at the end of the day had the outfield been more conducive to cricket, as Sanjay Khan bowling medium pace ended with 3-124 off 30 overs while pacer Kassim ended with 2-36 from 9 overs bowling for RHCC.
The Isaac Bissoon competition is in its second year and is being sponsored by overseas-based Guyanese Isaac Bissoon to the tune of $1M. Sponsorship has already being secured for the 2008 competition.
