By Marlon Munroe
Berbice lifted the Castrol Under-15 Inter-County trophy yesterday after they beat defending champions Demerara by nine runs at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC).

Captain of Berbice Shawn Perreira receives the championship trophy from Castrol Brand Manager Leonard Khan. (Aubrey Crawford photo)

The two teams went into yesterday’s match with two wins apiece against Essequibo but by the end of the day Berbice defended their low total of 123 set earlier in the day.
National under-15 spin bowler Gudakesh Motie proved too much for the Demerara batsmen who could only muster 114 in 48.2 overs.

He took 3-24 from his 10 overs while spinners Devon Baldeo and capain Shawn Perreira also returned miserly figures of 2-3 (2.2) and 2-16 (10) respectively despite a middle order surge from Demerara top scorer Kadesh Yadram who stroked five fours in his 34. The three spinners contained the Demerara batsmen since many of them found it hard to work the spin.

When aggressive opener Brian Sattaur was batting he made facing the spinners seem easy and dispatched pacer Niall Smith with disdain but he was run out when his partner drove back a delivery down the pitch and the bowler got his hand on while  he was out  of his crease. He scored 17 which included four fours.

Marvin Pestano-Bell and Tagenarine Chanderpaul tried to put up some resistance but Pestano-Bell found it hard to get the ball away and was bowled by Baldeo  for 12; Chanderpaul followed shortly for 16 to be Demerara’s chief contributors.
When Berbice batted they were constantly in trouble but they eventually crossed the three figure mark and ended their innings on 123 with Motie leading the way with the bat with a score of 22. He got valuable support from Shemron Hetmyer who contributed 20. Demerara’s Vishan Narayan was the pick of the bowlers with economical returns of 3-4 from 4.1 overs. Left arm orthodox spin whiz Devon Lord was again among the wickets with figures  ures of 3-19 from his quota of 10 overs. In the end the teams were congratulated for their efforts and they were encouraged to keep playing cricket and lift the level of their games.