Pacer Grisean Grant along with spinners Kassim Khan and Leon Andrews inspired a dominant first day for Berbice against Essequibo on day one of the final round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) U-19 three-day tournament played at the Enmore Community Centre ground.
Grant who bagged a match-winning 4-wicket haul against Demerara snatched 3-14 with his right-arm pace as he continues to impress. Meanwhile, Khan (3-34) and Andrews (3-30) weighed in with top spells of spin bowling to help rattle out Essequibo for 139 in their first innings, despite a brave 47 from Parmanand Parsotam.
Berbice were 196-6 at stumps heading into the second day with a first innings lead of 57 runs with Khan (10*) and Daniel Lewis (02*). Bowling for Essequibo, spinner Akinie Adams bagged 3-29, while Keanu Harry, Denzil Harry and Looknauth Khinkoo picked up a wicket each.
During their first innings, Berbice lost Andrews for 19, but Balchand Baldeo (32) who was on 22 and centurion from the last match Shimron Hetymer (41) who was on four at that time, took Berbice to 51-1 at tea. The final session of the day saw Essequibo making inroads to remove both Hetymer, Baldeo, Parmanand Ramdhan (31), Clifton Lindie (41) and Samuel Kistasammy (2).
Earlier, in-form opener Nathan Persaud (17) looked good during his stay in the middle before Andrews broke the 40-odd run opening stand between Persaud and Parsotam. West Indies U19 all-rounder, Kemo Paul (13) and Parsotam joined forces for a brief period before Khan struck, removing the talented Paul minutes before lunch.
Parsotam remained positive despite the two big losses and took his personal score to 47 as the Essequibians went into lunch at 94-2. However, it would all go haywire for the Cinderella County boys upon the resumption of play as Berbice snatched the last eight wickets for a mere 59 runs.
The opener fell three short of his 50 and Jonathan Fernandes (18) was made to scrape for his double figure score thanks to Grant, Khan and Andrews. The trio then made light work of the Essequibians as they tore through the line-up to mop up the Cinderella County boys immediately after lunch.
Play resumes at 10am.
