With the rainy season taking its toll on the first two rounds of the Hand-In-Hand Inter-County Under-19, three-day tournament, the organisers have decided to change the venue for the final round.
According to Assistant Territorial Development Officer/ Administrator, Kavita Yadram, upon inspecting the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, it is unlikely the venue can host a match in the upcoming days due to backlog, clogged drains and rain in the forecast.
As a result, the final round which will begin today will see Berbice and Demerara clashing for the title at the Lusignan Community Centre ground, East Coast Demerara. Meanwhile, Everest Cricket Club will host the Select Under-17 and Essequibo encounter.
Defending champions, Berbice currently leads the table with 17 points with Demerara in hot pursuit with 16.3 points. Select Under-17 are on 10.4 points with Essequibo haplessly on 0.2 points.
The ancient county’s Alex Algoo leads the batting charts with 255 runs, including the lone century of the tournament, a blistering 175 against Select Under-17 in the opening round.
Algoo’s opening partner, Junior Sinclair has been the leading all-rounder with 159 runs in addition to four scalps with off-spin and two catches behind the stumps.
Left-arm spinner, Kelvin Umroa has taken 12 wickets to date but
sits behind Essequibo’s leading off-spinner, Amit Persaud with 14 scalps. Demerara’s Joel Spooner has tallied 11 wickets despite much of the second round being washed out.
Demerara will want more from their leading players such as West Indies Under-19 prospects, Ashmead Nedd and Sachin Singh while Qumar Torrington and Alphuis Bookie will be the front runners in the bowling and batting departments respectively.