Pacer Yougindra Harrinarine bagged 6–17 from eight overs against Skeldon to lead Port Mourant into the semi-final of the 2008 Berbice Zone Neal and Massy 40-overs-a-side first division cricket competition.
Skeldon got the opportunity to take first strike and were bowled out for a miserly 41 from 17.4 overs as former Berbice under-19 captain Rajiv Ivan and Devendra Thakurdeen supported Harrinarine with 2 – 15 and 2 – 1 respectively.
Port Mourant bullied their way to a 10-wicket victory as they surpassed the target in 4.1 overs with Moshin Perkhan blasting an unbeaten 29 which included five fours.
In their second encounter with Scottsburg United, former Berbice cricket off-spinner Roopnarine Ramgobin with 4-29 and Ivan (2-7) restricted Scottsburg to177 of which Junior Mc Almont top scored with an unbeaten 62. National under-19 wicket keeper batsman Anthony Bramble with 29 and Peter Grimes 22 offered support with the bat.
In reply, Port Mourant reached 180 for the loss of two wickets from 33.5 overs, thanks mainly to Ivan who returned to make an unbeaten 58. Perkhan continued his impressive form with the bat making 47 while Devendra Thakurdeen and Ramgobin contributed 38 and 25 respectively. Clarence Beresford took the two wickets to fall for 27 runs from his eight overs.
In other matches, Young Warriors on the back of Richard Ramdeen’s 67 and Farouk Hussein’s 51 inflicted a seven-wicket defeat on Berbice Police at Cumberland. Police lost the toss and were asked to take first strike, but were bowled out for 147 from 36.4 overs. Only Albert Sinclair with 47 and Jerry Heyliger 26 were able to withstand the bowling of Balram Samaroo (3-21), Paul Wintz (2-19) and national middle-order batsman Gajanand Singh 2-30.
Ramdeen, who played for the West Indies at the under-19 level as an opening batsman, struck seven fours and three sixes while Hussein blasted five fours and three sixes. The two posted 90 runs for the first wicket as Young Warriors cantered to a seven-wicket victory.
And, despite a fine all-round performance from Blairmont Community Centre’s (BCC) Arnold Singh (2-18 and 50), BCC still went under to Rose Hall Community Centre (RHCC) by nine runs at Canje.
RHCC won the toss and batting first, made 174-7 from their 40 overs with Sasenarine Sukhdeo leading the way with 41. Jason Itwaru (30) Sean Jhetoo (22) and Kevin Ramdeen (21 n.o) offered support to Sukhdeo against the bowling of Arnold Singh (2-18) and Anthony Narine 2-20. In reply, BCC were bowled out for 165 from 38 overs with Singh returning to make 50.
National fast-bowler Brendon Bess also chipped in with the bat, scoring 33 as fast bowler Rafik Kassim and Jhetoo with (2-19) apiece, along with Romesh Munna 2-41 ripped the batting apart.
In their next match, RHCC went under to West Berbice by 101 runs. Batting first, West Berbice made 173 in 39 overs with Krisendat Ramoo (39) and Kwesi Mentore, 30, leading the way.
Kassim bagged 4-44 and Mohabir 3-22.
RHCC were bowled out for 72 in 30 overs with Jhetoo’s 12 being the top score. Ramoo 4-7, off-spinner Kenje Sedoc (3-10) and fast bowler Asif Khan 2-17 were the wicket-takers.
Both Albion and Port Mourant Community Centres have advanced to the Berbice zone semi-finals as they are sitting on top of zone B with 16 points apiece from four matches.
West Berbice are on top in zone A with 12 points, two ahead of Bermine.
