Lower Corentyne defeated New Amsterdam/Canje on first innings points to emerge champions of the inaugural Berbice Cricket Board/Republic Bank Under-17 Inter-Zone tournament on Wednesday at the Port Mourant Cricket Club ground.
Lower Corentyne’s victory was aided by three outstanding individual performances -Lionel Lewis’ brilliant 64, Shawn Perreira’s unbeaten 53 and national under-15 left arm spinner Gudakesh Motie Kanhai’s miserly figures of 6-23.
Sent in, New Amsterdam/Canje were bundled out for 86 from 41.3 overs of their allotted 60 overs with Joemal La Fleur and Kevin Ramdeen scoring 20 and 17 respectively.
In reply, Lower Corentyne reached 233 all out in 57.4 overs.
In stark contrast, the New Amsterdam batsmen had earlier struggled to get the ball off the square as medium pacers Sharmendra Hardial and Lewis bowled with good control.
Shawn Sattaur and skipper Jamally Odle added four runs in the first six overs before Sattaur edged Hardial to wicketkeeper Andy Mohan without scoring.
Odle followed in the next over when he was brilliantly caught by Perreira in the gully off Lewis for nought to leave his team struggling at 4-2.
Ramdeen and La Fleur added 35 runs for the third wicket before La Fleur was stumped off Motie at 39-3. Ramdeen, who was mis-stumped twice off leg spinner Perreira, was finally caught behind off the bowling of Motie at 45-4.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals with only Devendra Jainabi reaching double figures. He scored 15.
New Amsterdam/Canje were eventually dismissed for 86 with Motie spinning webs around the batsmen to end with bowling figures of 14.3-3-26-6.
Off-spinner Lewis chipped in with 2-5 off three overs.
Lower Corentyne in reply, lost former national under-15 player Dominic Rickey for three in the third over with the score on 11.
Opener Surujnarine Kandasammy and Andy Mohan added 21 for the second wicket before Mohan was dismissed for 15 (2×4).
Solid batting saw Lower Corentyne reaching 233 57.4 overs with Kandasammy making 28; Rajendra Dasrat 28; Lewis 64; and Perreira 53 not out.
Off-spinner Ramdeen took 6-75 off 16 overs and pacer Mark Jackman 2-16 from four overs.
At the presentation ceremony after the match was called off at 16:30 hours when Lower Corentyne closed their innings, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Hilbert Foster hailed the tournament as a success and suggested that the selectors should be pleased with the identification of several new talents.
The tournament, he said, was organised in conjunction with the Leslie Amsterdam under-17 Memorial Inter Club tournament that serves to bridge the gap between under-15 and under-19 categories. The tournament is also a vehicle that forms part of the BCB’s effort to promote cricket at all levels.
The long serving cricket administrator praised Republic Bank for its investment into cricket development in Berbice and also to former Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Secretary Bishwa Panday who coordinated the sponsorship.
BCB President Keith Foster also praised the high standard of cricket played throughout the tournament and challenged the young cricketers to always be discipline and committed to the game while making sure that they remain in school and obtain a sound education.
Manager of the Rose Hall branch of Republic Bank, Leon Mc Donald congratulated the BCB for hosting a well organised and highly competitive tournament and expressed the bank’s satisfaction with its investment. He called on the players to be role models to their peers and stated that Republic bank would continue to invest in Guyana’s youth.
The winning team received the Republic Bank Trophy while and close to $90,000 in educational materials while the runner-up got $60,000.00 in educational materials. Motie received the Best Bowler award of a Right Start Republic Bank account starting with $2,000.00.
Lewis also received the same prize for his Best Batsman and Player-of-the-final.
