By Marlon Munroe
Half centuries from Travis Dowlin, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Rajendra Chandrika and a four-wicket haul from Kellon Carmichael ensured Berbice went down by 71 runs to Demerara in the second round of the El Dorado 50-over Inter-County tournament at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground yesterday.
Berbice, after clinically disposing of Essequibo on Saturday, were themselves thoroughly outplayed by Demerara. The runners up in last year’s tournament was led by a patient knock of 72 from Dowlin, who also shared in a 129 first wicket stand with Chandrika, who stroked 54.
Demerara’s captain contributed 57 and then Leon Johnson smashed an 11-ball 25 as the team surged to 258-5 from 42 overs after a late start due to a wet ground. In reply, Berbice lost their way after some ill-advised stroke play before they ended on 187 all out from 36.
While Narsingh Deonarine (55) and Royston Crandon (51) hit fighting half centuries it was medium pacer Carmichael’s spell that made the difference after it seemed that Berbice might have pulled off the win. He finished with figures of 4-38 from eight overs.
Carmichael picked up vital support along the way from left arm pacer Andre Stoll, who returned with 2-27 (8), right arm off spinner Steven Jacobs who had 2-37 (7) and Christopher Barnwell (1-54 from seven overs). When the Berbicians started their reply Sewnarine Chattergoon (4) and Richard Ramdeen (3) were nothing near as fluid as they were against Essequibo and were out pulling and being bowled respectively as the pressure mounted on them.
However, lefthanders Deonarine and Assad Fudadin brought back a semblance of balance to the game as their vigil started to become ominous. The two worked themselves into their consolidation role and initially nudged the ball around for the singles.
The occasional boundary came until Fudadin holed out to Dowlin on the long off boundary off the bowling of Jacobs. He made 28 and with his departure also went a 64-run third wicket partnership when the score was 81.
Deonarine continued to fight but his innings came to a close when he got a top edge as he attempted a slog sweep and was caught by wicketkeeper Derwin Christian off the bowling of Jacobs. After this, wickets fell at regular intervals and partnerships became a rarity among the batsmen.
Carmichael and Stoll by this time had found their rhythm and had put a screw on any free scoring before Keon Joseph was bowled for one to leave his partner Veerasammy Permaul not out on three and Berbice well short of their target.
Rocky patch
Meanwhile when Demerara batted Dowlin overcame his rocky patch and played himself into form; he put the bad balls away but was equally vigilant as he faced 25 dot balls and hit 28 singles in his innings of 72.
He complemented his singles with four fours and three towering sixes as he partnered with Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) cadet Chandrika.
The two batsmen’s communication and good running between the wicket took centre stage. However, in a moment of indiscretion Dowlin pushed a Devindra Bishoo delivery to short backward point and went running down the wicket and was run out by Permaul.
More drama was to soon follow: Sarwan drove leg spinner Bishoo, who got a hand to the ball, and Chandrika was run out while backing up.
Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (19) put on 38 for the third wicket to push the score to 180, after which pacer Joseph removed Chanderpaul caught by Jonathan Foo on the long on boundary.
Sarwan continued with Barnwell (13) but it was the partnership between himself and Johnson that produced fireworks. Johnson smashed two huge sixes while Sarwan also showed his deftness when he charged Crandon in successive balls to dispatch him for six over long-on before he was out when the score was 244 in the penultimate over.
Johnson pushed the score past 250. Demerara will play their next match on Wednesday in Wakenaam against Essequibo before the final is held on Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium.
