The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) U-15 50-over Inter-County tournament bowled off yesterday and saw Arif Khan turn in a brilliant all-round performance to lead Berbice to a narrow 12-run victory over Essequibo in a low-scoring encounter.
Playing at the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) ground, Adrian Hetmyer, captain of the Berbice side, called the toss correctly and elected to bat.
The Berbicians innings never quite got off the ground, as opener Matthew Perreira was trapped leg before wicket (LBW) by the Essequibo skipper Makaya Holmes for a duck. After Perreira’s demise, the Berbicians lost wickets at regular intervals; from 3/1, the Berbice innings plummeted to 57/6 as Dennis Crossman and Eron Benjamin accounted for five wickets between them.
Hetmyer was caugh off the bowling of Crossman for just four, with the latter also removing opener Chamesh Seenauth (13) via the same route. At 25/3, Benjamin struck three times, bowling Lakeram Singh (14) and Sohail Mohamed (5) before having Gibran Yacoob (3) caught.
At 57/6, there was a mini-revival as Feeaz Baksh and Kumulchan Ramnarace stemmed the fall of wickets with a 23-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
However, Bomesh Lall would break their brief resistance when he bowled Baksh (13) to leave Berbice in danger of being bowled out for less than 100 at 80/7.
Despite having seven wickets down, Arif Khan would turn the tide, sharing in crucial partnerships of 16 and 41 for the eighth and ninth wickets, respectively. Ramnarace would fall for a valuable 20 before Khan teamed up with Ravin Boodwah (3) to usher Berbice to 137/9, with Khan doing most of the scoring.
With just one partner left, Khan could only watch as Jayhayden Rohleler was LBW to Jathneil Nurse for a duck. Khan was left stranded on 37 from 23 deliveries, which included five fours and a six, as Berbice were bowled out for 137 in exactly 35 overs.
Benjamin ended with figures of 3/22 from seven overs, while Nurse snared 3/9 from his six overs for the Essequibians.
In response, Essequibo found themselves in trouble early on at 3/2 when Khan bowled opener Francis Gurahoo and trapped Omarion Smith, LBW, for first-ball ducks.
Opener Justin Dowlin and Bomesh Lall then shared a 40-run partnership before the latter became Khan’s third victim, caught by Ramnarace for 23; incredibly, 16 of the 40-run partnership were accounted for by wides.
43/3 became 55/4 as Elisha Ramdatt was run out for one; from that point, Dowlin partnered with Jathneil Nurse to take their side close to what seemed to be victory with a 49-run partnership. However, Ramnarace had other ideas, having Nurse (8) stumped and Darius Pearson (0) bowled in consecutive deliveries.
At 106/6, the target of 138 still seemed achievable, especially with the Berbice bowlers donating free runs in the form of wides at an alarming rate. Dowlin, only one of two batters to pass double figures, was removed for 45 with his team on 117. He was caught by Baksh to become Seenauth’s first scalp, and from there, it was easy pickings as Berbice took the last three wickets for just eight runs to script a memorable comeback.
Seenauth had Benjamin caught off the very next ball for a golden duck, while Baksh accounted for Makaya Holmes (5), and Dennis Crossman was run out for one with Essequibo all out for 125, losing by 12 runs.
Despite Khan’s haul of 3/26 (six overs) and Ramnarace’s taking 3/18 (six overs), the Berbicians nearly gifted Essequibo the game, with extras accounting for 36 runs of Essequibo’s total. Of those 36 runs, 35 were wides.
For his unbeaten 37 and three-wicket haul, Khan was adjudged man of the match.
Over at the Queen’s College ground, Demerara skipper Emmanuel Lewis blasted 160, while Parmeshwar Ram (47) and Nannan Tilok (44 not out) also had key contributions in their side’s mammoth total of 402/3 (50 overs). After setting the Select XI 403 to win, Demerara then made quick work of the Select XI, bowling them out for 137 (43 overs), with Lewis leading the bowling effort with 3/12 (5 overs).
The tournament continues tomorrow with Demerara facing Essequibo at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground, while Berbice will clash with Select XI at Malteenoes.
