Guyanese youth cricketers, Ushardeva Balgobin and Ameer Singh continued to reap rewards in the United States, this time in the 2021 Indo-Caribbean Federation Trophy.
The duo represented the Caribbean Invitational XI under-25 side and ensured their team beat Guyana Under-25 by six wickets.
Caribbean U25 won the toss and inserted Guyana U25 at Idlewild Park. Guyana U25 managed 153 for eight from their allotted 25 overs while Caribbean U25 reached 154 for four with 10 balls to spare.
A brittle start to the batting saw Guyana U25 reduced to 20-4 until Mahendra Persaud came to the crease and struck five fours and two sixes on his way to 69 from just 64 balls.
He added 41 for the fifth wicket with Robin Rooplal (13) and 30 for the sixth wicket with Kelvin Shewprashad (11) before both batsmen were dismissed by Balgobin (2-29). Mark Fredericks was the only other batsman to reach double figures after finishing on 20 not out from 14 balls.
Hamza Rana picked up 2-13 while Michael Sultan, Alix Hussain and Jonathan Douglin bagged one wicket each.
In the chase, Singh added 64 for the opening partnership with Ackeel Hoyte who made 20 from 37 balls as Singh raced to 40 from 44 balls. Man of the Match Balgobin returned to make a 25-run cameo while Naresh Rambharos (30) and Rana (23) ensured the Caribbean U25 secure victory despite Mahendra Parsram’s figures of 2-19.
Meanwhile in the second senior encounter, the Caribbean Invitational XI defeated the Guyana XI by five wickets.
Guyana XI won the toss and opted to take first strike but could only muster 175 all out in 22.4 overs while Caribbean XI reached 176 for five in 20.3 overs.
Andy Mohamed was bowled by Reynard Leveridge (2-50) for a golden duck while Leveridge also removed Winston Forrester for four but a 55-run third wicket partnership between Wasim Haslim and Vishal Singh revived the innings.
However, when both batsmen were removed by Reinzo Trotman (2-34), the Guyana XI innings started to decline. Renwick Batson removed Akshaya Persaud and Rajiv Ivan while Nicholas Chinkoo accounted for Hemindra Ramdihal and Troy Mars. Dino Choweenam also bagged the wickets of Damion Vantull and Terrence Madramootoo.
Avi Dhanpaul was left stranded on 37 from just 19 balls after hitting four sixes and two fours.
The chase was piloted by Adrian Paharry who made a ball-a-run 40 not out but Hardeep Singh took the game away from the Guyana XI with a 23-ball 75 not out. He hammered nine sixes and four fours during his innings while sharing in an unbroken 84-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Paharry.
Madramootoo returned 2-20 while Persaud, Ivan and Haslim accounted for one wicket each.
