Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:51 AM
Apr 18, 2010 Sports
Dominic Rikhi and Harrinarine Chattergoon scored half-centuries to lead Berbice to first innings honours against Demerara in their drawn rain-affected final round GTM under-19 three-day cricket match which ended at the Police ground yesterday.
Demerara, who only needed to avoid an outright defeat to take the title from Berbice after the controversial ending the Berbice’s penultimate match in Essequibo, claimed the title as they reached 167-3 in their second innings after being set 102 to avoid an innings defeat.
Opener Quincy Ovid-Richardson led the Demerara second innings with an attractive 56 while Kwame Crosse followed up his unbeaten half-century against Essequibo with another unfinished knock as he and Clevon Hyman added 72 in an unbroken 4th wicket partnership.
Amir Khan produced his best bowling performance in the competition as he took 6-58 from 22 overs to register his third consecutive five-wicket haul in the tournament and take his wicket tally to 17 as Berbice scored 122 runs from 32 overs in the first session yesterday before declaring 30 minutes before lunch at 208-8.
Scores: Demerara 107 & 167-3, Berbice 208-8 declared.
Berbice began the final day on 86-1 and progressed to 123 before Khan, a former West Indies under-15 leg-spinner, removed Chattergoon for 68 with 10 fours and one six from 147 balls and 161 minutes.
The diminutive Rikhi played an array of elegant shots and his silky cover-driving and nimble use of his feet to the spin were a joy to watch at a time when technically correct stroke-play and confident timing is becoming a rarity among young Guyanese batsmen.
His 81 followed up half-centuries in Essequibo and lasted 91 balls, 126 minutes and was decorated with 10 fours and a six but once he departed only Sherwin McPherson (23) got a start as Berbice hunted quick runs to try for an unlikely outright win.
Khan, operating from the Southern end, bowled with a lot more flight than at any other time in the series and confused the batsmen with his clever leg-breaks and googlies and his six wickets were just reward for impressive bowling at a time when most young spinners have become ultra-defensive ‘dart’ bowlers.
Demerara used their pacers in short bursts and as Khan bowled almost unchanged to prevent Berbice from really putting their foot on the gas towards the end of the first session yesterday.
First-Class pacer Keon Joseph looked dangerous for the first time in the match as he bent his back and extracted pace from the flat track when Demerara began their 2nd innings.
After being cut for four by Ovid-Richardson, Joseph had the right-hander caught behind off his glove as he hooked at a quick bouncer but the call of no-ball saved him.
Richardson was then dropped at slip in the same over and by lunch Demerara, who only needed to bat out the day to take the title, were 29-0 off five overs at lunch.
Although they possessed the two quickest bowlers in the competition in Joseph and Raun Johnson, Berbice did not use pace for long and their spinners, mostly content to bowl flat and straight with the exception of national under U-15 leg-spinner Shawn Pereira, struggled to make inroads in the innings.
Shameer Fazal, like Hyman who opened in the first innings, both looked uncomfortable against the short balls and was soon removed for 20 from 64 minutes with three fours at 45-1.
Once Ovid-Richardson, who hit 9 fours from 99 balls and 131 minutes departed, the Demerara innings went into ‘pause mode’ and the atrocious fielding and barrage of dropped catches suggested that the Berbicians were trying their best to shoot themselves in the foot.
Joseph’s inability to bowl with sustained pace for long spells was also a worry although several catches were dropped off his bowling.
Christopher Surat, who laboured for 63 balls for 9 runs which included a boundary, seemed incapable of putting bat on ball before Joseph ended his misery at 95-3 when he was leg before to a ball which might have pitched outside leg-stump.
Crosse, a former National under-15 Skipper was joined by Hyman as Demerara staged ‘operation stay at the crease’ and watching their painstaking partnership in the final session was as exciting as watching paint dry.
One of the worst fielding displays at this level in the 34-year-history of the competition did little to entertain the small but vocal crowd as Demerara wriggled out of any danger of losing.
Crosse, who showed an overwhelming leg-side bias, ‘opened up a bit’ but was five short of his fifty when the game ended at 17:30hrs. His 45 took 203 balls, 188 minutes and included 4 fours.
Hyman’s unbeaten 24 came from 178 balls, 174 minutes with 4 fours as both batsmen were content to just survive with little interest in scoring runs for much of their partnership.
Berbice are now awaiting the outcome of their protest over the delaying tactics employed by Essequibo. A GCB official confirmed that Demerara were the champions and said the official presentation of both trophies would be done after the final round of the one-day competition on Friday.
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