Led by Tevin Imlach’s century, Demerara recorded a comfortable victory over the Guyana Under-17 side yesterday, in the second round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Raj Singh U-19 limited overs tournament.
Played at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, Demerara posted 326-4 in 50 overs on the back of a brilliant knock of 131 not out by Imlach before returning to restrict the U-17s to 260-9.
When play got underway, Demerara lost their first wicket at three, as the U-17s skipper Ronaldo-Ali-Mohamed trapped Ronaldo Renee for nought. Vivian Albert joined Imlach and the pair took Demerara to 56, before Albert was removed by Asif Ally for 26. Ally then accounted for Ashkaya Persaud’s wicket, with the scorecard on 58.
However, after the demise of Ashkaya Persaud, excellent batting between Imlach and skipper Travis Persaud helped rebuild the innings. They batted responsibly, adding 188 runs for the fourth wicket.
Travis struck four sixes and three fours in 73 before he was removed by Ali-Mohamed, who finished with 2-50 from eight industrious overs. Sherfane Rutherford then took to the crease and soon began to entertain the small crowd. In his usually aggressive manner, Rutherford blasted 10 sixes, including six off successive scoring shots and two fours during his unbeaten knock of 70 off just 19 deliveries. Imlach was cautious for most of his innings before exploding at the latter part.
He finished with 17 fours and three sixes in his well-constructed innings which took 161 balls. Ally and Ali-Mohamed were the top bowlers for the U-17s, claiming two wickets apiece.
In reply, the u-17s raced to 53 before losing Bhaskar Yadram, who hit a cameo 31 to Rutherford. After Yadram’s dismissal, the U-17s took the attack to Demerara’s pacers, before the spinners’ introduction stemmed the flow of runs.
Several of the U-17s batsmen, Ramnarine Chatura 39, Gavin Boodwah 35, Yadram 34, Raymond Perez, 33, Adrian Sukwah 31 and Ali-Mohamed 27 got starts, but failed to carry on. However, it was still a good performance by the U-17s, who, at one stage were in the hunt to achieve the mammoth target.
Part-time off-spinner Malcolm Hubbard claimed 2-33 from 10 economical overs while Rutherford also colleted two wickets with his medium pace.
The win was Demerara’s second in as many games and they are now set to face Essequibo tomorrow.
