By Delvon Mc Ewan
An impressive spell of fast bowling by Sherfane Rutherford inspired Georgetown to victory over East Coast in the final round of Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)/ Diamond Fire and General Insurance Incorporated U-19 Inter-Zone competition played yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club Ground, Carifesta Avenue.
Rutherford, who is known for his batting, was introduced as the sixth bowler for Georgetown in the 14th over and finished with figures of 5-14 as East Coast was dismissed for 118 in 27.2 overs.
Rutherford’s spell began with him picking up three wickets in his first over as East Coast slipped from 38-1 to 42-4, his accurate bowling and constant strikes denied the flow of runs for the East Coast team. At the end of his fifth over East Coast was struggling at 118-9 and national youth player Steven Sankar took the final wicket of the innings to finish with 3-22.
For East Coast Rudolph Singh batting at number three was left unbeaten on 58 off 63 balls, his second half-century of the tournament after he scored 97 in the first round against West Demerara at Bourda ground.
Earlier, Georgetown won the toss and elected to bat and at one stage was in a disastrous position of 52-6 in 20.5 overs. However, a seventh wicket partnership of 85 off 170 deliveries between wicket keeper-batsman Kemol Savoury and the elegant Cleon McEwan, saw Georgetown setting a competitive total of 145-9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Both Savoury and McEwan scored 45 runs and played the ball on the ground for most of their innings. Savoury was eventually out caught at long off in the penultimate over while McEwan followed the next delivery via the run out route as both batsmen tried to increase the scoring rate.
Fast bowler Mathew Shutahal was the leading bowler for East Coast with figures of 3-28 from nine overs receiving support from skipper Gavin Moriah and off spinner Richard Woolford who took two wickets each.
Across at Wales Community Development Centre Ground, West Demerara retained the title after defeating East Bank by 29 runs.
West Demerara ,who won the toss and batted first was bowled out for 186 in 47.5 overs, with Avinash Daniram (35), Ronaldo Renee (28) and Richie Looknauth (24) being the principal scorers. Ryan Shun and Deonarine Seegobin took 4-42 and 3-25 respectively for East Bank.
In their turn at the crease the East Bank’s team only managed 157 all out in 47.5 overs, Seegobin top scored with 35 to finish as his side leading run scorer. Ricky Debedial (22) and Sheldon Trotman (21) also contributed with the bat for East Bank. Ewart Samuels and Malcolm Hubbord took two wickets each bowling for East Coast.
West Demerara was announced the winners of the competition due to superior net rate after three teams ended the competition with two victories out of three games.
In a post-match presentation vice president of the DCB Anand Sanasie recognized the competitiveness of this year competition by mentioning it is among one of the best under-19 tournament. He made mention of each team?s ability to score over two hundred runs in the first round while thanking the sponsors for its involvement in the tournament.
In a brief remark, Rabindranauth Basil, Assistant Manager of Diamond Fire and General Insurance Inc. said his company was happy to be a part of youth development and has been participating in the sponsorship of several cricket tournaments previously. He added that the company will continue to support the development of cricket at any given opportunity.
