Chanderpaul Ramraj and Andre Seepersaud yesterday spun Demerara to a nine-wicket win over Berbice in the opening round of the Bel-Air Rubis/ Guyana Cricket Board Inter-County U-17 tournament at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Bourda.
The spinners kept Berbice in check after they opted to bat, managing just 66 in 29.1 overs while Demerara reached 67 in 28 overs, losing one wicket along the way.
Ramraj, a left-arm spinner from East Coast snapped up 4-7 from six tantalizing overs.
His haul included the wicket of Berbice top scorer Marvan Prashad who was trapped leg before wicket.
Prasad’s 56-ball innings of 31 featured two sixes, the first of which was driven over the bowler’s head into the long off boundary off of Reynaldo Mohammed and the second was pulled over mid-wicket of the same bowler. He also cut a delivery from Niran Bissu through point for his only four.
Prashad shared in a 46-run stand for the fourth wicket with Zeynul Ramsammy. The former Guyana Under-15 captain was the only other batsman to reach double figures.
His 13-run innings included two beautifully caressed boundaries from 59 balls
Ramsammy and Jonathan Rampersaud were dismissed in identical fashion after the too held out to Chetram Balgobin off of Seepersaud who finished with 3-6.
Ramraj then struck twice in the 27th over, trapping Rayad Karim and Hemraj Harilall leg before wicket in the space of three balls.
Earlier, the two seamers contained the Berbice top order with Trevon Charles getting the break through as Ricardo Ramdehol looked to pull a short delivery but only managed to pop the ball back to the bowler.
Jagdesh Dowlatram also struck twice in quick succession as Collis Noble edged the next delivery after Ramdehol’s dismissal into the hands of Shamar Yearwood behind the stumps. He then had Sarwan Chaitnarine edging to Ramraj at first slip.
In the chase, Berbice found limited success when Mathew Nandu chopped a delivery onto his stumps for 11 from 31 balls.
Mohammed batted painstakingly for his unbeaten 14 from 87 balls while Seepersaud lifted the scoring rate with 31 not out from 52 balls that featured three boundaries after he was dropped on seven.
Demerara will now face Essequibo today at GCC from 09.30 hrs.
