Over the weekend, first division two-day cricket returned to the ancient county with Albion defeating Port Mourant by an innings and 148 runs while Rose Hall Town Thunderbolt Flour, Tucber Park and Blairmont enjoyed first innings points in the inaugural Berbice Cricket Board Banks Beer tournament.
At Albion Community Centre, Port Mourant won the toss and elected to bat but were dismissed for just 98 with national youth left-arm spinner, Kelvin Umroa bagging 6-45 and West Indies leg-spinner, Devindra Bishoo returning to cricket with 3-32. West Indies Under-15 batsman, Rampertab Ramnauth (29) and Mahendra Boodram (30) were the only significant scorers.
In reply, Albion closed day one on 329-5 with Kandasammy Surujnarine scoring 112 and Rajiv Ivan and Ramesh Kasinath heading into the final day on 99 and 41 respectively after bad light stopped play.
Albion resumed and declared on 358-6 with Kasinath dismissed for 50 and Ivan finishing on 112 not out. Seamer, Demetri Cameron ended with 4-116.
Port Mourant’s batting once again imploded for 112 with Ramnauth left stranded on 63 not out as Bishoo returned 3-45 and Ivan, 2-34.
Area H
Over at Area H, hosts Thunderbolt Flour earned first innings points over Rose Hall Canje.
Thunderbolt Flour took first strike and were reduced to 10-3 but experienced campaigners, Delbert Hicks (89) and Eon Hooper (109) lifted their side to 279. Zaheer Hussain and Boodram Ramsarran took two wickets each.
In reply, Rose Hall Canje ended the first day on 43-2 and were bowled out for 159 with Joel Seitaram top scoring with 42 as Hooper took 4-36 with his off-spin and complemented by Shawn Pereira (3-27) and Junior Sinclair (2-34).
Thunderbolt Flour enforced the follow-on but could not get the win as Rose Hall Canje ended on 199-5 with Kedar Amsterdam stroking 101 and Seitaram, 49.
Over at Blairmont Community Centre, the hosts enjoyed an excellent weekend with the bat as Kevin Jawahir smashed 196 to propel his side to 421-8 declared with support coming from Marvan Prashad (88) and Seon Glasgow (49).
In reply, West Berbice closed the first day on 83-4. Upon returning for the final day, West Berbice were bowled out for 164 with Karime Mentore top scoring with 67 after resuming on 52 and Keyron Fraser chipping in with 43 as national youth left-arm spinner, Nigel Deodat bagged 7-62.
Blairmont opted to bat once again despite a lead of 257 and declared on 47-2. West Berbice were 22-3 when rain ended the match giving Blairmont first innings points.
At Cumberland, Young Warriors were dismissed for 191 with Trevon Stanislaus and Suresh Dhanai scoring 55 and 29 respectively in the face of off-spinner, Quacy Mickle’s 5-64 and seamer, Leon Swamy’s 4-42.
Tucber Park responded with 22-1 at the end of the first day and pushed on the final day to secure first innings points after posting 260 with Mickle ending on 42 not out. He was supported by Anthony D’Andrade and Keon DeJesus with 41 and 40 respectively. Stanislaus secured 5-49 with his left-arm spin with Dhanai taking 2-38.
Young Warriors, in their second innings reached 51-3 before the match ended with Martin Singh taking 2-31.
The competition continues on Friday and Saturday with Albion and Thunderbolt Flour clashing at Area H and Port Mourant and Rose Hall Canje squaring off at Port Mourant while Tucber Park and West Berbice tangle at Bush Lot and Young Warriors battle Blairmont at Cumberland on Saturday and Sunday.
