Berbice retained the Guyana Cricket Board Senior Inter-County 50-over title last night at the National Stadium, Providence after beating Essequibo by five wickets in a low-scoring encounter.
Essequibo were bowled out for 98 in 33.5 overs after winning the toss and deciding to bat while Berbice raced to 101 for five in just 15.2 overs.
Essequibo were off to a horrid start as Romario Shepherd knocked out the off-stump of Nathan Persaud (00) and Kemol Savory (06) early on.
Shepherd’s new-ball partner, Clinton Pestano, also did damage at the other end removing key all-rounder, Keemo Paul, who was caught by Kevin Sinclair at second slip to see Essequibo stuttering at 33 for four.
Essequibo captain, Antony Adams, resisted the onslaught with a patient 81-ball 23 not out. Adams shared the largest partnership of his team’s innings worth 41 runs for the last wicket with Garfield Phillips who was the only other batsman to reach double figures. He made 12 from 51 balls before being trapped leg before wicket to Berbice captain, Veerasammy Permaul.
Extras accounted the most towards the total with 37. Shepherd picked up the player of the match award after he returned 4-36 from his eight overs. The fast-bowler also ended with the most wickets of the tournament with nine and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Pestano ended the match with 3-20 from his eight overs while left-arm spinners, Gudakesh Motie and Permaul picked up 2-18 and 1-6 respectively.
The chase was off to a flyer with Anthony Bramble racing to 35 from 23 balls, hitting five fours and a six. Sinclair chipped in with a responsible 24 not out from 27 balls while extras added 18 towards the total. West Indies player Shimron Hetmyer made 11.
Paul looked to upset Berbice in a relatively small chase, taking 4-31 from 7.2 overs while Ricardo Adams was the only other bowler to pick up a wicket, uprooting the middle stump of Shepherd with his left-arm spin to end with 1-11 from two overs.
After the match, Antony Adams, who had predicted a 250-run par score admitted his team did not assess the conditions well and didn’t play well against the new ball pair.
However, he still had faith in his side at the half-way stage owning to the quality of bowling at his disposal.
“Once there are runs on the board, we always have a chance with the calibre of bowlers we have, Keemo Paul, me, Ronsford Beaton, Ricardo Adams and young Garfield Phillips, anything is possible,” he said.
Winning captain Permaul explained, “I think they went out and showed the experience we have in the team and showed it in the field, so, well bowled to Shepherd and Pestano. At the start we looked to restrict them to 180 and bowling them for 98 was a fantastic effort.”
Demerara captain, Leon Johnson walked away with the most runs of the tournament with 233 and a best of 153. Trailing him was Bramble (203), Savory (181) and Kevon Boodie (113).
Among the wickets were Paul and Steven Sankar with eight, Ronaldo Alimohamed with seven and Kevin Sinclair with six.
