-Essequibo beaten by 145 runs
Demerara skipper Rajendra Nikbarran starred with both the ball and bat as Demerara steamrolled Essequibo by 145 runs in their first round encounter of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/GTM-sponsored Under-19 Inter-county limited overs match at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary yesterday.
Having won the toss and opting to take first strike on a placid-looking batting wicket, Nikbarran stroked his way to an unbeaten 59 from 61 balls in Demerara’s total of 206-7, made from 37 overs, before returning with the ball to claim 5-31 as Essequibo were bowled out for a meagre 61 in reply.
Demerara got off to a bright start in the game which began 30 minutes late due to seepage from the early morning rain on the pitch and raced to 84 before they lost opener Quincy Richardson in the 13th over of their innings for 42.
Prior to his dismissal, Richardson who is a national Under-17 opener had struck fast bowler Xavier Mc Donald to third man for four, followed by a disdainful pull over midwicket for six while his partner and national Under-19 opener Trevon Griffith sent Rovi Harris crashing over midwicket twice for six.
A tired looking Essequibo who arrived in the capital city at 17:30 hrs on Wednesday afternoon had the opportunity to dismiss Griffith twice, but Anthony Adams dropped him running back from long on off Harris when he was on 13, while Ravindra Parsram grassed an easier chance at first slip off Floyd Henry.
So ruthless were the Demerara opening pair that the 50 was posted from 6.3 overs when Richardson pulled Mc Donald through midwicket for four, followed by two more fours off successive deliveries through forward square leg.
Griffith then sent Henry’s first delivery over long off for six, before rain interrupted play for five minutes.
The interruption which lasted for five minutes breathed some life into the Essequibians who accounted for Richardson on the resumption when he was bowled off the inside edge by Royston Alkins after hitting four fours and one six in his 42.
Twelve runs later, Griffith went down the wicket to Henry and was stumped by wicketkeeper Faizal Karim, also off Henry for 44 which was made from 47 deliveries and decorated with three sixes and two fours.
Shameer Fazal struck two fours in his 12 before he holed out to Harris at mid off while Dellon Fernandes looked solid and compact in his brief stay with Nikbarran where they added 56 for the fourth wicket from 12 overs.
But when well set for a big total, Fernandes got a thin edge through to Karim off an Anthony Adams delivery and when Dexter Solomon was sent packing through the Karim/Adams combination, Demerara were 174-5 from 33.3 overs at which time the second rain interruption began with Nikbarran on 41.
When play resumed at 14:00 hrs, Nikbarran got to his 50 from 54 deliveries with six fours, but in their haste to score quickly from the 3.3 overs that remained, Demerara lost Andre Stoll who was run out for three and Carl Rambharose who holed out to Navin Singh at long on for one. Medha Dhanpaul was unbeaten on two with Nikbarran as Demerara reached 206-7 from their quota of overs against the bowling of Henry (2-28), Adams (2-33) while Alkins (1-23) and Grayson Paul (1-29) offered support.
Essequibo who needed to score 216 from their 37 overs on the Duckworth/Lewis system, must have fancied their chances when Nikbarran who started the attack in tandem with Stoll was struck over long on for six by Navin Singh.
But Stoll had the burly looking opener caught by Nikbarran in his next over and two deliveries after seeing the same fielder fail to hold on to an offer at mid off, for 12, to leave Essequibo on 16-1 after three overs.
Nikbarran then took matters into his own hands, after handing the ball to medium pacer Rambharose and taking it back from him, by removing Parsram (01), Alkins (13) and Floyd Henry (00) to leave Essequibo shakily placed on 44-4. When Herrell Greene was caught and bowled by Rambharose for the top score of 18 in the following over, followed by the dismissal of Dwayne Singh (02) and Paul who had struck Nikbarran over long on for six, Essequibo were staring down the barrel of defeat at 52-7.
National Under-19 left arm spinner Totaram Bishun then struck a double blow in his first and only over, removing Adams who was magnificently caught by Arif Habib who ran from deep cover to deep square leg and held onto the catch inches from the ground, followed by Harris who holed out to Fazal at mid off.
Nikbarran closed off things in his next over when he knocked back the off stump of Karim, but not before he had been struck over midwicket for six by the batsman to finish with 5-31 while Bishun (2-3), Rambharose (2-11) and Stoll 91-16) offered tremendous support.
In a comment to Stabroek Sport, coach of the victorious Demerara side Orin Bailey said he was not excited by the victory. “Honestly, I am not excited about this victory, but a victory is a victory whichever way you get it. Even though we had a game plan which was being executed to the last letter when our openers were batting, it fell away midway through the innings as we lost unnecessary wickets before the 20th over.
Even at the second rain interruption, we wanted to be at 200 but that did not happen and having to face 21 balls when play resumed, we were looking at a total of 214 to 225 but we fell short. Our bowlers bowled effectively, even though the execution was not what we wanted it to be, but for our next game against Berbice, we are looking for an improved performance,” Bailey said.
