As the Guyana Cricket Board’s senior Inter-County four-day tournament returned yesterday at the National Stadium, Providence, Berbice’s Veerasammy Permaul took three wickets while Demerara’s Tevin Imlach led the batting with a half-century.
Winning the toss, Berbice inserted Demerara who reached 228 for nine after 86.2 overs. Berbice skipper, Permaul led the bowling attack with 3-47 from 27.2 overs. Despite the absence of his fellow left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie, Permaul worked his bowlers in synergy with off-spinner, Kevin Sinclair, who took 2-30. Junior Sinclair and pacers, Romario Shepherd and Nial Smith picked up a wicket apiece.
Imlach led the batting for Demerara with a composed 62 from 182 balls.
His four-hour innings featured nine boundaries. After opener Sachin Singh departed for nine in the first session, Demerara reached 39 for one at lunch with Imlach on seven and Mathew Nandu on 13. Nandu added two his total in the second session before he was dismissed by Permaul ending a 61-ball stay at the crease.
Akshaya Persaud (six) and Leon Johnson (21) did not stay around too long, but Christopher Barnwell joined his Demerara Cricket Club teammate, Imlach, to put on 57 runs for the fifth wicket. Barnwell made 28 from 70 balls, hitting four boundaries.
With Berbice into the lower order, Richie Looknauth and Ashmead Nedd forged a 40-run eighth-wicket partnership before Nedd was dismissed by Permaul for 19. His 36-ball innings included three boundaries.
Looknauth was still there at the close of play on 19 not out from 53 balls. Extras accounted for 26 runs.
Meanwhile, Sports Minister, Charles Ramson Jnr., bowled the first ball to open the tournament and gave brief remarks at the opening. Ramson said the GCB has the full support of the government which he said was committed to making every facility available to the cricketers.
The Sports Minister declared that age should not be a barrier to selection, pointing out that some players present would not have gotten the opportunity in the previous selection of the teams and selection will be made on performance.
“Age is not a barrier to whether you get the opportunity or not. In fact I see many faces here today who didn’t have the opportunity in the previous selection of the team, who are now getting the opportunity and since then, I would add as well, that it is strictly going to be based on performance and that is something that is very important to us here and the government of Guyana…, he said.
He pointed out that the last time Inter-County cricket at this level was played was in 2014 and indicated a lot of bad decisions were made on behalf of cricket in the country.
“Some of the reasons we are in the position we are in today is because since 2014 is when the last Inter-County match for the selection of the national team, 2014 was the last time it was held. This is 2023, just so you get a clear understanding of how much time has passed since then…nine years since.
I wanted to point that out because what led us to this point was that there was a lot of bad decision making on behalf of cricket in the country that saw the supervision of our decline and who suffers most other than Guyana’s reputation, is you…” Ramson Jnr., said.
Notably, Guyana won the West Indies Four-Day championships five years straight until 2020 under the leadership of current captain, Leon Johnson.
