An impressive outing with the ball by left-arm spinner Aryan Persaud secured Essequibo a five-wicket win over Select XI in the Guyana Cricket Board’s under-19 inter-county three-day tournament.
At Georgetown Cricket Club, Essequibo resumed their final day on 70 for one and eventually reached 232 for five in 80.2 overs.
Persaud ripped through Select XI’s first innings, taking 5-69 to see them bowled out for 209 in 71.3 overs. Myheim Khan supported with 3-29 while Joash Charles took 2-28. Kevin Kisten top scored with 63 and Ezekiel Wilson, who made 55.
Essequibo’s first innings saw them bundled out for 134 in 36.5 overs with Wilson returning to take 3-37. Matthew Pottaya, Chandrapaul Ramraj and Dillon Ramsaroop took two wickets each. Shaahid Viera top scored with 34 and Thaddeus Lovell made 32.
Select XI failed to capitalize on a healthy first innings lead and were dismissed for 157 in 52.4 overs. Nityanand Mathura made 30 while Kisten and Wilson made 28 and 25 respectively. Persaud wrecked the batting order, taking 6.53 to lead the dismantling.
Essequibo’s second innings was piloted by Lovell who top scored with 65. He was supported by Viera and Khan with even half centuries as Persaud returned to lead his side over the line with 28 not out.
In the other match of the round, Berbice recorded a nine-wicket win over Demerara after Isai Thorne’s heroics with the ball.
Demerara crumbled for 122 in 50.1 overs with Rivaldo Phillips making 57 and Mavindra Dindyal chipping in with 20. Jeremy Sandia took 3-33 and got support from Leon Cecil, Jonathan Rampersaud and Thorne with two wickets each.
Berbice fell three runs short of getting a first innings lead after being bowled out for 119 in 42.4 overs due to Krsna Singh (3-38), Dindyal (2-18), Nehemiah Hohenkirk (2-22) and Alvin Mohabir (2-31) sharing the wickets. Tomanni Caesar top scored with 32 and Rampetab Ramnauth made 22.
Demerara could only manage 101 in 29.3 overs, setting Berbice an easy target as Thorne bagged 7-33. Rampersaud also picked up 2-22. Anthon Lin top scored with 42 and Hohenkirk made 22 not out.
Ramnauth piloted Berbice to 107 for one in 24.4 overs with 53 not out. Hemendra Gurdayal made 28 and Zeynul Ramsammy made 24 not out.
The second round will be played tomorrow, April 22 with Berbice playing Essequibo at Everest and Demerara facing the GCB Select XI at Enmore. Both batches start at 10:00 hours.
