A four-wicket haul from left-arm spinner, Daniel Mootoo followed by a belligerent 48 from Sachin Singh ensured Demerara beat Berbice by five wickets and take the Hand-In-Hand Under-19 50-overs title yesterday in the final at Georgetown Cricket Club.
On a dry wicket, Berbice won the toss and elected to bat first, posting a sub-par 115 in 38.3 overs while Demerara casually went on to reach 116-5 in 28 overs.
Kevlon Anderson was early to the crease after Alex Algoo popped a leading edge to Sachin Singh at short mid-on for four after being dropped on two.
Anderson also lost Junior Sinclair for seven but found a stable partner in Deonauth Persaud with a 44-ball 14. The pair shared in a 38-run stand which saw Deonauth dropped on six before he was undone by Ashmead Nedd. Anderson looked solid and was dropped on 27 with the ball going over the rope for his lone six but was trapped by Nedd for 33 off the following delivery.
Mootoo got into action and made light work of the lower order, to finish with 4-32 as only Seon Glasgow resisted with an unbeaten 21 from 38 balls. Off-spinner, Joel Spooner capped off a decent season with 2-21.
In the chase, Robin Williams and Adrian Hinds were dismissed for just four runs each by Kelvin Umroa but Singh, who was dropped on seven, looked brutal in his 43-ball 48, hitting four sixes, two of which rocketed into the mid-wicket boundary and two back over the bowler’s head. His innings also included two fours but was contrastingly undone when he popped a leading edge into the hands of Gevon Schultz at short mid-on off of Nigel Deodat.
Alphius Bookie stabilized the chase with a brisk 30 from 48 balls, laced with two fours 
and two sixes but was also dismissed by Deodat, trapped leg before wicket while Yeudistir Persaud was run out looking for a second run to give Berbice a foot in the door. However, Nedd and Andrew Samaroo steered them over the line with unbeaten knocks of 10 and seven. After the match, Berbice captain, Anderson said he felt 200 would have been a decent score to defend while his opposite number, Nedd said that it was all about sticking to the game plan.
Junior Sinclair was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the tournament with 374 runs at an average of 41 with four half centuries, two catches and one stumping while Umroa took 31 wickets with five five-wicket hauls at an economy rate of 2.62.
Select Under-17’s Mavindra Dindyal was ad judged the best wicket-keeper with five dismissals Hand-In-Hand Director, Howard Cox stated during the presentation that the company was proud to be associated with this tournament, noting that it has been a nursery for players to represent Guyana and the West Indies.
