Guyana and West Indies right arm-leg spinner Amir Khan with 3-4 along with fast bowlers Seon Daniels and Andre Stoll each with 2-18, bowled Demerara to a comfortable 10-wicket victory over Essequibo in their first round encounter of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Clico sponsored Under-17 two day Inter-county championship at the Enterprise Community Centre ground yesterday.
Scores in the match Essequibo 134 and 51-9 innings closed, Demerara 141 and 45 without loss.
Demerara took a slim seven-run first innings lead through the spirited efforts of their captain Dexter Solomon who made 23.
He added 32 runs for the seventh wicket with Arif Habib (11) and Daniels (13), against the bowling of Anthony Adams (5-39).
Demerara returned to dispatch the Cinderella County batsmen 53 minutes after lunch for a paltry 51.
It was evident from the word go that Daniels who represented Guyana at the under-15 level, intended to stamp his authority on the batsmen as he bowled with aggression to rock the stumps of Rowell Cornelius (00) after having first innings top scorer Herrell Greene adjudged lbw with one that kept low.
Greene, who was given a life by Kwame Crosse off at cover off Stoll, had earlier flicked Daniels off his legs for four through backward square leg.
His and Cornelius’ demise may have caused panic in the Essequibo camp, as they folded quickly after lunch where they were 27-2.
Stoll got into the wicket taking act when he dispatched opener Ravendra Mohabir and then Rovi Harris off successful deliveries and was denied the hat trick by Ryan Mc All who had survived a confident lbw appeal, leaving Essequibo shakily placed on 41-4.
They slipped to 50-8 courtesy of Khan’s wicket taking feats that placed him on a hat trick also as he accounted for Mc All and Adams both without scoring. Rensford Beaton (5) survived the hat trick delivery, but succumbed in Khan’s next over after driving the previously delivery all along the ground for four.
Captain Dwayne Singh was Essequibo’s top scorer with 12 that included a sweetly timed push through point off Stoll, but off spinner Ricardo Devers (1-4) knocked back his middle stump to leave Essequibo on 45-7.
Their innings was closed when Kevin Fredericks was run out after he attempted a cheeky single to cover to spark off celebrations.
Needing to score 45 for victory, Demerara’s openers in Quincy Ovid (25; 4×4) and Shameer Fazal (16; 1×4) ensured their team got to their target without any bother.
Ovid was in a no nonsense mood with two well timed drives off Cornelius that went through point and extra cover for fours in one over.
Fazal too struck a boundary hitting Cornelius magnificently through point for four while Ovid tickled Beaton to long leg for another boundary followed by a flick off his legs to fine leg.
The end came at 1430hrs (2:30pm) and when Fazal pushed Beaton to cover and set off for a single in the 10th over, handing Demerara a comfortable 10 wicket victory.
In an invited comment, coach of the victorious Demerara team and former national off spinner Garvin Nedd told Stabroek Sports that his bowlers, whom he had said earlier were the strength of the team, proved him to be correct with their second innings bowling display.
“Our bowling is our strength coming into this tournament even though we do have a few talented batsmen.
We did not bat too well in the first innings chasing a moderate total of 134, but credit must be given to the Essequibo bowlers who bowled a controlled line and length.”
Nedd added:“Having said such, our bowlers came back and did the job for us, especially Khan who was unfortunate not to have more wickets in the first innings, setting up the win for us.
We will be looking forward to the clash with the defending champions Berbice at Wales, as we intend to come out victorious in this tournament.”
His opposite counterpart Vibert Johnson expressed his disappointment in the batting display put on by his batsmen especially in the second innings.
“I am disappointed with the second innings batting display. We had a good performance in the first innings, even though we were short by 50 to 60 runs as we were looking to score within the region of 180 to 190.”
“Our bowlers bowled well to defend the small target of 134, but such a total was inadequate even though we fought down to the wire to restrict Demerara. “Having said that, I thought our batsmen would have gone out there and take the opportunity to bat and get some personal goals ahead of our next fixture against Berbice which begins on Tuesday (tomorrow).”
Berbice and Essequibo will clash in a second round fixture beginning tomorrow at the Rose Hall Canje ground in Berbice.