Ershad Alli scored an unbeaten 94 to steer East Bank to a four-wicket win over West Demerara in the second round of the Demerara U-19 one-day tournament yesterday at Everest Cricket Club.
Alli was dominant in East Bank’s successful run chase after West Demerara set them a target of 219.
The 17-year-old produced a match-winning effort to propel East Bank to 222-6 in 46.5 overs. He added 124 runs for the fourth wicket with Ryan Shun who made 68 after East Bank had slipped to 45-3.
Shun struck eight fours and one six. Off-spinner Richie Looknauth grabbed 2-40 for West Demerara.
When West Demerara batted Kelvin Shewpersaud and Ronaldo Renee gave them a good start, by adding 55 for the first wicket. Renee was bowled by Dexroy Williams for 29 but Shewpersaud continued his solid batting, adding 62 with Akshaya Persaud (28), but after the former’s dismissal for 35, East Bank continuously lost wickets eventually ending on 219-9 from their allotted 50 overs. Chetnarine Pooran chipped in with 31.
Shun led East Bank’s bowling, capturing 3-36 while Paul Thomas 2-9 and Daniel Barker 2-29 were also among the wickets.
At the Enterprise Community Development Centre ground, Georgetown handed East Coast a humiliating defeat winning by nine wickets to record their first win of the tournament. After losing to West Demerara by 35 runs the previous day, Georgetown returned to demolish East Coast, dismissing them for 53 in 26.1 overs before returning to reach 56-1 in 18.4 overs.
Off-spinner Tariq Dharamlall (5-15) and pacer Carlton Jacques (4-22) were instrumental for Georgetown, sharing nine wickets between them. Richard Woolford removed Joshua Ram, the lone batsman dismissed in Georgetown’s reply.
All four teams have now won one game from two matches heading into the final round tomorrow. Georgetown will face East Bank while East Coast will tackle defending champions West Demerara at venues to be named by tomorrow. The final is billed for Sunday.
