Half-centuries from Man-of-the-Match Junior Sinclair and Brandon Mangal helped pilot Berbice to a 83-run win over the GCB President’s XI in yesterday’s third round of the ongoing U15 Inter-County 50 over tournament.
Played at the Everest Cricket Club, the in-form wicket-keeper batsman Sinclair, who recorded his second half-century of the match, thumped a brisk 70 off 120 balls with five fours. His partner Mangal chipped in with a classy 62 from 130 deliveries with three fours, steering Berbice to a winning total of 196 for 4 in the 50 overs.
The President’s XI in reply looked good for the chase after opener Sachin Singh dug in with a gritty 87 balls for 46; however, only one of his teammates, Yodister Persaud who scored 15, managed to launch a counterattack.
Berbice’s bowling was led by Nivendra Persaud who snared 4-25 while two wickets each from Haifa Walters and skipper Kevlon Anderson stifled the President’s XI to 114 in 44.5 overs. After Singh was bowled by Anderson, Marvin Prasad (01) was run out, Persaud was trapped LBW by Omroa and Anderson and Persaud knocked over Joel Spooner (02) and Melville Singh (10). The President’s XI slid further into the abyss when they lost Sachin Bhopal for a duck and Satesh Basdeo who was out caught for a painstaking 6 runs. Danesh Ally became Persaud’s fourth victim when he was bowled, leaving the score at 108 for 9. The final nail was struck in the coffin when Walters uprooted the middle stump of Parvesh Dhanraj for a seven-ball duck.
Earlier, the duo Sinclair and Mangal punished the President’s XI bowlers during their 138-run opening stand. The right-handed keeper was aggressive and busy while Mangal was keen on rotating the strike and picking up the boundaries, with the young keeper being the first to reach his 50 off 93 deliveries while his partner crept to his half century off 119 balls.
Singh got the breakthrough when he had Sinclair caught by his namesake Anil Singh while Mangal who batted around all his mates and was the last man to go, was caught and bowled by Bhopal.
After the collapse, Alex Agloo was run-out for duck. Garfield Benjamin toiled for his 40 balls on 26 before he was dismissed, leaving the score still well set at 180 for 3. Kelvin Anderson (03) and Andre Bissoondial (04) were the others to be dismissed as the overs expired.
The second of two third-round matches played at the Wales Community Centre Ground, saw defending U15 champions Demerara cruising to their third straight win against Essequibo in a low-scoring game which they won by a comfortable 7 wickets.
The match which was reduced to 25 overs-per-side due to rain, saw Essequibo’s Orlando Jailall stroking a top score of 33 in a losing cause. Support came from Sevon Bess who chipped in with 11 after Demerara Captain Ashmead Nedd gabbed 4-13 to restrict the Cinderella County side to 78 for 7.
In reply, Demerara compliments of knocks from opener Robin Williams who followed up his fifty against Berbice with 25 and Adrian Hinds who scored an unbeaten 25 as the champs, cruised to
79 for 3 in 19.1 overs. Essequibian Mahindra Dindyal picked up 2 for 20.
