A defiant 71 from Essequibo’s Herrell Greene followed by the first tournament hat trick from his teammate Anthony Adams (3-16) enabled the Cinderella County team to take control after the first day of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Clico sponsored Un-der-17 two-day competition at the Enterprise Community Centre ground yesterday.
Home team Demerara won the toss and, inviting their opponents to take first strike, reduced them to 134-8 from their first innings quota of 65 overs, with Greene being the principal scorer against the bowling of Ricardo Devers (3-28) and Arif Habib (2-26).
In reply, Demerara were shakily placed on 78-5 following Adams’s hat-trick, the first in the tournament’s history despite Quincy Ovid’s blazing 32.
They ended the day on 92-5, needing a further 42 runs for first innings points.
But the day belonged to the Essequibians who refused to be intimidated by their opponents even though they lost their first wicket, that of Jermaine Hohenkirk (05) who was lbw to pacer Seon Daniels (1-14).
Greene and Ravendra Mohabir (04) added 34 runs for the second wicket.
Greene got to his 50 when he turned his 117th delivery from West Indies under-15 leg spinner Amir Khan off his legs to backward square, hitting six fours in the process and in partnership with his captain Dwayne Singh (09), saw their team to 76-2 at lunch.
After lunch, the two extended their partnership to 43 runs for the third wicket, realizing their team’s 100 in the 50th over. But disaster struck soon after for them as they lost Singh who was caught by Stoll off Arif Habib (2-26) and Greene who was drawn forward before being beaten in the flight by Devers, which allowed wicketkeeper Dexter Solomon to effect a smart piece of stumping.
The Devers/ Solomon act accounted for the next wicket, that of Rovi Harris who was caught at the wicket, and with Shaun Garraway aggravating an injured shoulder and had to retire hurt, they were 102-5.
A 20-run ninth-wicket partnership between Rowell Cornelius, who struck one four in an unbeaten 18 and Adams (04), pushed Essequibo to their final total.
When Demerara began their reply, their openers in Ovid (32; 4×4) and Kumar Ramkissoon who was unbeaten on 27 (145 balls; 1×4) posted 45 runs for the first wicket with Ovid being in a no nonsense mood, dispatching anything short from the bowlers through the point region.
One such shot off fast bowler Rensford Beaton brought a round of applause from the fair size crowd that witnessed the day’s proceedings. But the bowler returned to rock back the middle stump of Ovid to spark off celebrations amongst his teammates.
Ramkissoon and Shameer Fazal (11) then added a further 29 for the second wicket before Fazal was caught and bowled by Singh at 74-2 in the 31st over. All this time, Adams was toiling away at the other end, creating problems for the batsmen.
It was in the 35th over of Demerara’s innings that Adams created history at the under-17 level as a bowler. First he had danger man Dayanand Roopnarine and Crosse lbw for three and nought respectively, before bowling Stoll, the intended night watchman with a quicker delivery that kept low on the flat surface.
Solomon joined forces with Ramkissoon and they saw their team to 92-5 from 45 overs at the close and with today being the final day, Demerara needs a further 42 runs for first innings points, especially with there being no limitations on the number of overs a team can bat in the second innings of this competition.