Ronaldo Ali Mohammed, Raymond Perez and Adrian Sukwah struck fifties to propel the National Under-17 team to a first innings score of 251 against Demerara who were 53-0 when rain stopped play on the second day of the final round of the Guyana Cricket Board/Raj Singh Insurance Brokers U19 Inter-County three-day tournament.
Played at the Everest Ground, Mohammed led the way with a mature, unbeaten 69 which featured nine fours supporting knocks by Perez (69) and Sukwah (54) who had set the tone earlier yesterday.
All-rounder Sherfane Rutherford continued his impressive bowling form in this competition with another top-class performance of 4-43. Ershad Ali, 3-28 and Malcom Hubbard 2-28, capped off another good exhibition with the ball by Demerara.
When rain stopped play minutes after 15:00hrs, Demerara were trailing by 198 runs with openers Ronaldo Renee (16) and Rutherford (26) set to resume their innings today.
Renee and Rutherford went about their chase in positive fashion, milking the U17 bowlers for singles, twos as well as the occasional boundary. With the threat of rain returning, Demerara upped their scoring rate, taking the score to 53-0 at tea as the groundsmen brought out the covers before the umpires decide that the pitch was not playable, thus calling off the match.
Resuming on 211-9 after lunch due to rain, Mohammed, who resumed on 42 and the tail-ender Kameshwar Motiram (03) who played the anchor role, continued to frustrate the Demerara bowlers.
Mohammed reached his half-century while his less recognized batting partner continued to soak up the balls. As Mohammed looked more and more confident with each shot, so too did Motiram who played text book defensive shots and even looked to attack when necessary as the U17’s raised their 250 runs. However, the tail-ender’s 50-ball stay at the crease would come to an end when Persaud foxed him with a beauty, bowling the right-hander all over the place ending a resurgent last wicket 51-run stand for Demerara.
The match continues today at 10:00hrs.
Intermittent showers also interfered with the match at Enmore between Berbice and Essequibo.
At stumps, Berbice were 273-7, with a lead of 114 after dismissing Essequibo for 139.
Daniel Lewis (*27) and Ritesh Omrao (*34) will resume their innings today while Kassim Khan was the only batsman to be dismissed. He made 12.
