Back-to-back half centuries followed by a three-wicket haul from Junior Sinclair ensured Berbice defeat Essequibo by 146 runs one hour before tea on the final day of the Hand-In-Hand Inter-County Under-19 three-day second round match at the Lusignan Community Centre ground yesterday.
Berbice resumed yesterday’s final day with a lead of 138 runs at the start of their second innings after bowling out Essequibo for 62 the previous day and muscled their way to a total of 132-2 declared setting their opposition an improbable target of 270 just over an hour into play despite a rain interruption for half of that time.
With the best weather over the three days, the match began five minutes before the early start scheduled for 09:30 hours in an effort to compensate for the three sessions lost from the two previous days and the defending champions came out looking to blaze the trail.
Openers, Alex Algoo and Sinclair switched to T20 mode and hammered the hapless bowling attack into submission as they scored at a rate of nearly 10 in their 13 overs of big hitting.
Algoo was the main culprit of the destruction, smashing four sixes, three that were sent several metres past the mid-wicket boundary ropes while the other was deposited over square leg, clearing the pavilion and crashing onto the storage room at the relatively large venue.
The left-handed 18-year-old, took a liking to Lance Roberts, taking 26 runs in the seventh over as he brought up his half century in just 27 balls with an elegant cover drive for his fifth four which pushed him to 52.
He was however caught at long on by Elian Whyte of the very next delivery to hand off-spinner, Amit Persaud his seventh wicket of the match.
Sinclair, equally as aggressive as Algoo in the 93-run opening stand, followed up his 50 in the first innings with a positive cameo, caressing four sixes and three fours.
He was on 43 when the rains came but the Berbice camp gave him a few overs to bring up his landmark and declared upon him reaching 50 not out from 33 balls. Seon Glasgow remained unbeaten on 12 while Kevlon Anderson was dismissed for 11.
Contrastingly, Essequibo struggled in their second innings with Sinclair taking off the gloves to bowl and capturing 3-12 in 14 overs while left-arm spinner, Nigel Deodat, returned 4-45.
The Essequibo top order batsmen got starts but failed to convert with Kevin Christian top scoring with 31 from 26 balls. Christian smashed Leon Swamy for a massive six over long on and swept Deodat over square leg for the same result in addition to his two fours but nicked to Glasgow at third slip off of Anderson.
Berbice were forced to field 10 players after strike bowler, Kelvin Umroa was sent off the field for 10 overs for breaching the code of conduct.
Orlando Jailall was uncharacteristically passive with a 55-ball 24 with two boundaries but was caught behind while Ameer Singh (13) was bowled after defending on his back foot, both by Sinclair.
The off-spinner added big-hitter Jeremiah Scott to his tally to complete a comprehensive performance.
Deodat was consistent with his bowling, on many occasions, bamboozling the batsmen but the spin contingent was solidified when Umroa was allowed to bowl and quickly took two wickets to end with 2-23 and wrap up the match.
Over at the Georgetown Cricket Club, the other match of the round between Demerara and the Select Under-17s was abandoned on the final day without a ball being bowled.
After round two, Berbice leads the table with 17 points and are closely trailed by Demerara with 16.3 points. The Select Under-17s are on 10.4 points with Essequibo struggling on 0.2 points.
The final round will begin tomorrow with Berbice facing Demerara in a virtual decider at GCC while Everest Cricket Club will host Select Under-17 and Essequibo.
