By Royston Alkins
Georgetown completed a resounding eight-wicket win over East Coast at the Enterprise Community Centre ground yesterday on the back of a mean spell of left-arm spin bowling from West Indies Under – 19 spinner Ashmead Nedd in third round action of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Jaguars 50 overs tournament.
East Coast after winning the toss and elected to bat, found little impetus after seamers Paul Wintz and Christopher Barnwell removed Rajendra Chandrika (2) and Brian Sattaur (0) to leave host in early trouble.
East Coast never really recovered after that point as Nedd ripped through the middle order to claim 5 – 14 from 9.5 overs to see East Coast being dismissed for 120 in the 43rd over.
Only Chandrapaul Hemraj (27) and Amir Khan (18) offer any resistance.
Georgetown then completed the victory on the back of an unbroken 122 runs fourth wicket partnership between skipper Leon Johnson (37) and Barnwell who laced eight fours in his unbeaten 57 which came of 66 deliveries.
The pair came together with the score on 22 – 2 after the demise of Robin Bacchus (15) and Raymond Perez (5) and saw off nagging efforts from Khan and Hemraj to comfortably see the City side over the line; 124 – 2 with almost 20 overs to spare.
Essequibo also recorded another win in this year’s tournament after trouncing East Bank by eight wickets at the Imam Bacchus ground.
East Bank was bundled out for 104 in 45.2 overs after winning the toss and deciding to bat.
Ronaldo AliMohamed (37) was the main contributor as left-arm spin trio Ricardo Adams (3 -17), Anthony Adams (3 -17) and Akini Adams (2 -13) wreaked havoc
. Essequibo in reply reached 105 for two off just 26.4 overs with Kemol Savory smashed an unbeaten 64 to complete the victory.
Meanwhile, over at Bush Lot West Demerara scampered to a one-wicket win over West Berbice.
West Berbice after being inserted, managed 173 before being dismissed with Sherwyn Mc Pherson top scoring with 44, while Steffon Adams made an unbeaten 30.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul surprisingly took 4 for 31 while Richie Looknauth had 3 for 11 for West Demerara who then scurried to 174 for 9 in 49.4 overs.
Chanderpaul returned to stroke 56, as Mahendra Dhanpaul (48) and Safraz Esau (47) all managed 40 plus scores in a tense chase.
Bowling for West Berbice, Waquar Hassan took 3 for 19 in a losing effort.
The final match in round three saw Lower Corentyne completing an eight-wicket win over Upper Corentyne.
Upper Corentyne batting first, was dismissed for 141 in 35.3 overs. Rajiv Ivan posted 55 as seamer Nial Smith grabbed 3 for 26, while Royston Crandon took 3 for 16 and Kassim Khan 2 for 30 in a solid bowling effort for Lower Corentyne who then reached 143 for 2 in the 24th over with Johnathan Foo leading the way with an unbeaten 79, while Sharaz Ramcharran (55) shared in an unbroken partnership of 129 to take their side to the top of the points table.