A new champion will be crowned today in the Guyana Cricket Board/ Hand-In-Hand Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Inter-County Under-19 50-over Tournament with Berbice taking on the Select Under-17 at Lusignan Community Center, East Coast Demerara.
Berbice will feel confident with history on their side having beaten the U-17s in the first round.
However the U-17s are pumped after their surprise win against a strong Essequibo side and will be looking for retribution.
Berbice are undefeated in the three rounds and is the only side to play their three games. They opened their title hunt by bowling out the U-17s for 60 before reaching the total in quick time while the U-17s snatched a win against Essequibo, bowling them out for 60 while defending 131.
The three-day champions, Berbice are almost always certain to have a good start with national youth player, Alex Algoo and Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club youth cricketer of the year, Junior Sinclair, already sharing in two 49-run partnerships. Berbice also have a strong middle order with Javed Karim, Kevin Sinclair and Kevlon Anderson, arguably the best batsman in the competition steering them to their target after chasing in all three of their matches. The Ancient County boys are also gelling well with their bowlers working in sync to their field and picking up regular wickets. Anderson, a medium pacer, has already registering a five-wicket haul while Keith Simpson has a total of 10 wickets already and the likes of Kevin Umroa, Leon Swammy and Cheddie Boodhu have all gotten wickets. The U-17s are also confident with West Indies youth captain, Sachin Singh at the top of the order and wicketkeeper batsman, Yeudister Persaud and solid batsman, Andre Seepersaud in the middle with utility all-rounder, Andrew Samaroo all getting in runs while Marvin Prashad found his groove with a gritty half century. The bowling is also up for the challenge with Niran Bissu, Nigel Deodat, Sylvan Williams and company all pumped for the challenge.
This is the second time in as many years an U-17 team has made it to the final of an U-19 tournament but last year’s champions, Demerara will feel they got the short end of the stick, having been involved in two washed out games and a thrashing at the hands of Berbice in the second round while Essequibo, who are known to play all their cricket in the limited overs format struggled to secure a win but like fine wine, got better with every match. The first ball will bowl off from 09:30h with the presentation taking place immediately after.
