– Chattergoon slams century as B/ce turn tables on arch rivals
By Marlon Munroe
A clinical all-round performance by Berbice in the El Dorado Inter County limited overs final saw them dethroning defending champions Demerara by the huge margin of 127 runs last evening at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Man-of-the-match Sewnarine Chattergoon scored a sumptuous 102 while Narsingh Deonarine made an undefeated, belligerent 74 as Berbice amassed 333-5 from their 50 overs.
Opener Richard Ramdeen and skipper Assad Fudadin chipped in with fighting knocks of 62 and 34 respectively as Berbice took charge of the game from the time they won the toss and batted.
Demerara, in reply, could only muster 206-9 with Christopher Barnwell’s 69 being the highest score.
Travis Dowlin and skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan were the only other batsmen with noteworthy scores making 31 and 29 respectively.
Davendra Bishoo and Royston Crandon took three wickets apiece for Berbice as the Demerara batsmen acquiesced to defeat and even appeared dispirited.
Earlier, Berbice could not have asked for a better start from openers Chattergoon and Ramdeen who punished all and sundry on a pitch tailor-made for batting.
The two put on 127 runs for the first wicket before Ramdeen attempted a suicidal run after he stroked a delivery to Zaheer Mohammed at extra cover and went running wildly down the pitch.
He was run out after facing 67 balls and hitting seven sweetly timed boundaries and one huge six.
Subsequently, there were progressive partnerships with Chattergoon continuing to be the aggressor, allowing no bowler to settle into a rhythm.
This brought added pressure on the fielders and there were a series of dropped catches, none more costly than Chattergoon’s who was dropped by Kellon Carmichael at point off Barnwell when he was on 74.
Deonarine, too, benefited from the Demerara fielders largesse as he was put down by Leon Johnson at deep mid wicket when on 45 off Carmichael.
This made the batsmen switch gears and they treated Steven Jacobs, Barnwell and Sauid Drepaul with absolute disdain.
Jacobs’s 10 overs cost 76 runs; Barnwell’s 10 overs cost 81 and Drepaul’s eight overs 59.
Chattergoon duly brought up his century with a pull through midwicket off Barnwell while Deonarine brought up his half century with a pull to the same region.
Deonarine only had 10 dotted balls in his 44-ball vigil at the crease and he struck 10 fluent boundaries and a massive six that ended up in the stands.
Chattergoon, who also hit 10 fours, was eventually bowled by Jacobs for 102 from 118 balls.
Royston Crandon, after returning from South Africa, played a small cameo of 16 which included a huge six off Jacobs but was later trapped lbw by Carmichael.
Fudadin joined in the excitement while Jonathan Foo also dished out some whipping of his own by hitting two boundaries and a six in his 29 from 18 balls. He was later caught by Carmichael off the bowling of Barnwell who ended with two wickets. Carmichael and Jacobs had one wicket apiece.
In Demerara’s turn at the crease opener Barnwell started well but was bogged down by some disciplined bowling. He also had his middle stump uprooted by pacer Brandon Bess off a free hit.
His 97-ball vigil included 60 dot balls and though he made 69 he sometimes did not employ the soft touch when he batted. He was bowled around his leg as he scratched around after his 50 by Crandon. His knock included eight boundaries.
Wickets fell at regular periods as Demerara were completely outclassed. Dowlin and Sarwan attempted to consolidate but this failed when Dowlin was lbw to Chattergoon for 31. There was no other support for Sarwan who looked ragged until he was caught by Ramdeen off the bowling of Permaul.
