Select Under-17 were saved from certain defeat as consistent rain only allowed 10 minutes of play in the final two sessions of the final day in the Hand-In-Hand Under-19 Inter-County tournament at Everest Cricket Club yesterday, ensuring that a rampant Berbice side was held to a draw.
Berbice resumed on 292-4 and went on to close on 404-5 from 86 overs before a burst from Leon Swamy condemned Under-17 to 32-3 heading into lunch. But with rain taking over the day’s play, they returned for just 10 minutes during which they moved to 39-3 from 13 overs before play was called off.
Man-of-the-match Alex Algoo resumed the day on 119 and took the bowlers to the cleaners on his way to 175. The left-handed batsman faced 237 balls in his five-hour innings that saw him hitting four more sixes to bring his total to seven in addition to 10 fours.
The 18-year-old built on an overnight fifth wicket stand with Garfield Benjamin to bring the union to 109 before Algoo dropped to his knees in an attempted slug but only managed to connect with a top edge that went several metres into the air before landing safely in the hands of the bowler, Chandrapaul Ramraj (2-104), who collided with wicket-keeper Mavindra Dindyal.
Algoo said after the match that it was a good feeling to score heavily but was tempted to push the scoring rate as he looked for a double century. The Young Warriors’ opener added that after having two lives early on, he played himself in and “got the feeling of ball on bat.”
Nevertheless, Benjamin was joined by Nigel Deodat as the pair shared an unbroken union of 33 with Benjamin scoring 33 not out from 64 balls while Deodat stroked 26 from 21 ball before the declaration that set Under-17 an improbable 352 runs to win over just two sessions.
Under-17’s plan was further halted as Swamy found a good line and struck three times in the eighth over.
The 17-year-old Tucber Park player had the fluent Matthew Nandu beaten for pace as he feathered an edge into the hands of Chanderpaul Govindan behind the stumps before uprooting the stumps of Aziz Christiani with the next ball.
Two balls later, West Indies Under-16 batsman, Dindyal was beaten on the pads and given leg before wicket to condemn the junior side to 13-3.
However, Under-17 were carried to some decency with an unbeaten 16 from 13 balls consisting of three boundaries by Andre Seepersaud with Zeynul Ramsammy at the other end 14 not out. Swamy finished with 3-16.
Under-17 skipper, Sheldon Charles, who will be missing the next match due to examinations, said he felt that they needed to contain Berbice to around 250 after establishing a 91-run first innings lead.
Meanwhile, Berbice captain, Kevlon Anderson said that the team was a bit disappointed with the result since he backed his bowlers to come for the outright win.
