Led by Player-of-the-match Alphius Bookie who bagged three wickets Guyana yesterday eased to a seven-wicket win over the Leeward Islands in a second round match of the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Regional Under-15 50 over tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence yesterday.
The medium-pacer Bookie, who is more known for his prowess with the bat, led the bowling attack with figures of 3-8 while seamer Qumar
Torrington (2-21) and off-spinner Kelvin Umroa (2-23), helped rattle the Leewards for a measly 90 in 46 overs of their allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 91 for their first win of the tournament, the defending U15 champs cruised to 94 for 3 in 25.2 overs after Sachin Singh played a mature hand, hitting two fours and one six in a well-crafted unbeaten 39, sharing a unbroken 54-run stand with Kevlon Anderson (14*), giving their team 6.6 points for the win.
Openers Robin Williams, who struck two fours in his 19 and Junior Sinclair who struck one in his 10, added a solid 38 before theformer was trapped LBW by Zania Chumney.
The latter was eventually out caught off the bowling of Kerry Gokarran.
Singh played well, picking up the odd boundary and keeping the scoreboard ticking but Bookie, who had a good run with the ball, was run out by Tariq Newman for four.
By then, however, Guyana had already reached the 50-run mark and was well on course for their first win, which they accomplished after Singh and Anderson saw their team home.
When the Leewards batted earlier, Paul Miller top-scored with a defiant 20. Nevertheless, the Guyanese continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals. Medium-pacer Haifa Walters (1-9) bowled opener Damien Hodge for 4 while Torrington had Uri Smith caught at mid-off for 1.
Elroy Francis scrapped for his next best score of 15 before Umroa, accounted for his wicket and at that point, the pitch began to offer
much to the slower bowlers who thrived on the spin and turn. Left-arm spinner Pradesh Balkishun (1-6) removed Zawanoi White (10), while Umroa sent Tariq Newman packing for 2, leaving Leewards at 38-5.
A 23-run partnership between Shaquon Pemberton (10) and Miller looked promising before off spinner Kevlon Anderson (1-14) had the former caught at deep mid-wicket. Bookie then sought to mop up the tail by removing Asher Murray Cornelius (2) and Kerry Gokarran (0) in the 42nd over, while Torrington accounted for Miller and Bookie the last wicket of Bogenarine Sharma (08).
At Enmore, the match between Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands was washed out while Barbados lost to Jamaica by seven wickets in their low-scoring match played at the Albion Sports Complex Ground.
Guyana will lock horns with Barbados at the Everest Cricket ground in Monday’s third round.
