By Neil Barry
Queen’s College and the Demerara Cricket Club will clash from today in one of the semi-final matches of the Brainstreet U-15 cricket competition at the Gandhi Youth Organisation ground.
School side Queen’s College, an insititution where education is the primary focus, has duplicated the effort of the University of Guyana in reaching the play off stage of a predominantly Georgetown club tournament.
It can only be an encouraging sign for local cricket when achievements are made by those within educational institutions. As expected, smart cricket has been played by the lads from Guyana’s premier secondary institution throughout the tournament as they have notched up five wins and three draws, including one against the team they are set to oppose in today’s first semi-final.
When the two sides last met, QC held on for 45 overs to scrape a draw after a dominant DCC batting performance, in which they compiled 7 for 203. The school side’s strength lies in their bowling attack, which boasts the tournament’s leading bowlers, spinners Jayadev Mana and Shameer Khan, who have 22 and 24 wickets respectively.
In what can be labelled the clash of the ‘Nedd’s’, (QC is coached by former national under 19 player Queson Nedd and DCC by Garvin Nedd,) DCC A side has produced dominant performances throughout the tournament, on the back of consistent performances from opener Tevin Imlach and all rounder Travis Persaud.
Despite suffering an upset defeat to Transport Sports Club, the DCC A side has notched up seven commanding victories and enter the semi finals as favourites as they have been the tournament’s leading team.
Tomorrow at the same venue, the home side will play a confident Transport Sports Club side. Following closely on the heels of DCC by being just four points behind in the standings, GYO’s under 15 side has shown consistency, led up front by Bhaskar Yadram, who has scored 316 runs and taken 12 wickets so far in the tournament. GYO also boasts the tournament’s only centurion Dwayne Debarros, who scored a ton against Malteenoes in his side’s first round game, but has since struggled for consistency. GYO has won five games and lost three, but will be confident as they enter the match with a victory over TSC in the league phase of the 11-team tournament.
When GYO met Transport SC last time, it was a close, but high scoring encounter as TSC fell short of GYO’s 242 by just one run. TSC’s leading performers thus far have been opener Joshua Ram and spinner Travis Marcellino who has 18 wickets in the tournament. The side, which slowly gained momentum after early round losses, have shown character as they have been the only side to defeat DCC A so far in a close low scoring game which they won by just four runs.
