-return leg set for GCC ground
A century by Young Warriors’ opening batsman and a five-wicket haul by a Guyana under-19 spinner proved to be too much for the visiting Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Under-21 team who took a beating from their Berbice counterparts for the Basil Williams Challenge Trophy.
Winning the toss and choosing to field in ideal cricketing conditions might be a decision that GCA skipper Chanderpaul Hemraj regrets for a long time after Wednesday’s match at the Albion Community Centre Ground.
Berbice was off to a flyer by Kandasammy Surujnarine and Shimron Hetmyer who put on 88 in 16.4 before Surujnarine was brilliantly run-out by Bernard Bailey for 21. Bailey is the son of Guyana Cricket Board fitness trainer Orin Bailey.
Berbice earlier raced to 50 inside seven overs. Hetymer was joined by former Guyana under-19 player Dominic Rikki and the duo put on 82 valuable runs for the second wicket before Rikki went for a well played 32. Hetymer then continued to dominate the attack and brought up his 100 in fine style by flicking Winston Forrester to backward square for his tenth boundary. Earlier, he put a licking on Kareem Naughton, taking 16 off one of his overs.
Hetmyer was then brilliantly caught the next over after reaching his milestone. He was caught by a diving Bailey at point for a well-played 102 off Hemraj, which came off 94 balls and included two huge sixes. New batsman Joemal La Fleur did not trouble the scorers as he was bowled all over the place by Hemraj.
Berbice then lost wickets at regular intervals, only for the last three batsmen: Skipper Shawn Pereira, keeper Andy Mohan and Motie Kanhai to put together 61 to give them a challenging score of 256 off their allotted 50 overs.
Bowling for GCA, skipper Hemraj ended with figures of four for 32 off 10 overs and Forrester two for 40 of 10 overs. When GCA took to the crease, openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Charwayne McPherson started relatively slowly against accurate fast bowling by Clinton Pestano and Romario De Jonge- Shepherd. The pair added 28 in 9.5 overs before McPherson was caught behind by wicketkeeper Mohan for 10. Mohan was then replaced by Hetmyer after being hit on his leg.
Hetmyer celebrated his new appointment by stumping Forrester off La Fleur for 15 with the score on 69. Hemraj then joined Chanderpaul who was cruising comfortably after hitting new bowler Kanhai for two fours in his first over.
La Fleur continued where he left off in the previous over by holding on to a brilliant catch running back to short third man to dismiss Chanderpaul for a well played 40 which included three fours and a maximum which went over the commentator’s booth on the southern end of the ground, with the score on 79 for three.
Wickets continued to tumble as GCA slipped to 105 for 9 compliments of disciplined all-round cricket in the field by a composed Berbice unit. Shaquellie Williams was caught on the mid wicket boundary by Rikki off the bowling of Pereira for nought.
Amir Khan was bowled by Kanhai for nought and he then had Alvin Castello LBW for nought and Naughton comprehensively bowled for three. Pereira then closed the innings off by bowling Charles for eight to end with three for 17 off 5.5 overs. La Fleur ended with 2 for 27 off 8 overs while Kanhai operating from the northern end bowled ten consecutive overs and finished with figures of 10-2-24-5.
For their efforts Berbice received the Basil Butcher Challenge Trophy. For his five wickets Motie Kanhai received a water cooler set and Hetmyer got the Best Batsman award for his century and the Man of the Match Award for his all-round performance. His prizes were compliments of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club.
The return leg of this competition is slated for the Georgetown Cricket Club Ground Bourda tomorrow. Hemraj said his team will definitely give a better account of themselves.
The Berbice senior team will also come up against a Georgetown Cricket Association XI in a specially arranged fundraiser set for the Albion Sports Complex on Sunday December 16.
Chairman of the Special Events Committee of the Berbice Cricket Board, Hilbert Foster, said all systems are in place for this match which will be one not to be missed as the Senior Inter-county Cricket is off the table due to the impasse at the Guyana Cricket Board. The GCA X1 should be balanced with all the international players back home and expected to play including former West Indies Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, Christopher Barnwell, Darwin Christian, Ransford Beaton and for the home team Narsingh Deonarine, Royston Crandon, Shawn Pereira, Veerasammy Permaul, Devindra Bishoo and Jonathan Foo. Action starts at 9am.
