Raj Singh Inter-County U-19 cricket …Berbice take 1st innings lead against National U-17s

Apr 09, 2015 Sports

By Sean Devers
On a slow, low turner at Wales, Berbice under-19s dismissed the National

Parmanand Ramdhan cover-drives during his unbeaten 36 at Wales yesterday.

under-17 team for 94 and then reached 136-6 by the close of day one of the opening round of the Guyana Cricket Board’s Raj Singh Insurance sponsored Inter-County three-day cricket tournament yesterday to take a 42-run lead with four wickets in hand.
In steaming heat, the National U-17s, using this tournament as preparation for the Regional U-17 tournament in T&T, won the toss and elected to bat on the straw colored track and fast outfield but soon found themselves in deep trouble as Pacer Grisean Grant induced Raymond Perez (3) to edge a catch to the keeper with just four runs and off-spinner Balchand Baldeo sent back Joshua Persaud (7) as the National colts slipped to 12-2.
A small crowd, which included former Guyana and West Indies left-hander Alvin Kallicharran, watched in dismay as the Renaldo Mohamed led U-17s lost four wickets with score on 20.
Timothy McCalmont (4) was stumped off of Baldeo, Adrian Sukhwa (0) was dismissed by

Renaldo Mohamed gets himself into a tangle against Daniel Lewis at Wales yesterday.

Grant, Steve Deonarine (0) fell to Kassim Khan and Ramnarine Chatura was sent packing for a duck by Daniel Lewis as Berbice ripped apart the middle order with ‘tight’ bowling which exposed the lack of temperament and proper shot selection by the young batsmen, who struggled badly on a track which made playing through the line, a difficult task.
When Mohamed, a National U-19 player, clipped a ball to short mid-wicket off Khan for nine, the Guyana youth side were wobbling on the ropes on 34-7.
But Kevin St Clair and Richie Looknauth, on his home turf, bobbed and weaved and managed to evade the knock-out punch with a steady if slow eight-wicket stand to see their to 64-7 by Lunch from 38 overs.
After the interval, St Clair and Looknauth took their partnership to 43 before St Clair was

Both teams along with former Test pacer Colin Stuart pays rapt attention to Kallicharran at Wales yesterday.

trapped LBW to Parmanand Ramdhan to leave the Guyana U-17s on 77-8. St Clair’s fighting 30 included three boundaries.
Looknauth, who played some enterprising shots, reached the boundary four times before he ran out of partners and was left unbeaten on 27 when last man Silas Tyndal was run out for a duck.
Grant (2-35), Baldeo (2-13), Khan (2-9) and Ramdhan (2-4) did the damage with the ball for Berbice who also found the going difficult against some quality fast bowling on the placid track.
Clifton Linde (5) was removed at 8-1 by Tyndal who bowled with lots of aggression, beating the batsmen for pace while Baldeo (2) was taken off Mohamed at 32-2.
Both pacers were given extended runs and when Leon Andrews, who struck four fours and a six, edged McCalmont to the keeper at 53-3 and without addition to the score, Brandon Persaud fell to McCalmont for a duck.
The lively Tyndal soon had Rotesh Umroa (9) taken at second slip at 74-5, while Samel Kishnasammy (21) fell to Looknauth, who continues to operate with a suspect action although his Coach Gavin Nedd was one of the better off-spinners produced by Guyana in the last three decades.
At 116-6 Ramdhan and Khan steadied the ship with an unfinished stand with Ramdhan being especially severe on Mohamed thumping him for consecutive fours before repeating the dose in Mohamed’s next overs. He rubbed salt into wounds by disdainfully dumping Mohamed back over his head for a six as the Skipper began to show signs of frustration.
Kallicharran provided some tips to the young cricketers during the lunch break and reminded that he does not like to see both teams bat on the same day of a three-day game and emphasized the need for patience by the batsmen. He is assisting Nedd with the U-17s.