Spinners Ershad Ali and Richie Looknauth bowled Demerara to a comfortable 68 run win over Berbice at the Providence Stadium, to lift the 2016 Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Hand-In-Hand U19 Inter-county 50-over title.
Ali, the leg-spinner snatched 4-10 while the off-spinner Looknauth’s 3-22 helped strangle Berbice for 86 in just 33 overs, failing to chase the 154 they had restricted Demerara to earlier. Joel Seitaram was the prime scorer with a 41-ball 30.
Berbice off-spinner Deon Sinclair was the tormentor, picking up 4-30 from his 10 overs as Demerara ended on 154 all out in 47.2 overs with Captain Travis Persaud (29) and all-rounder Ronaldo AliMohammed (27) being the top scorers.
After Adrian Sukwah was run out for six, the spinner then used their guile and variation to simply slice through the batting order as Seitaram was the only batsman to resist.
Mathew Hardiyal dug in for his 12 and shared a brave 25 run partnership with Seitaram who managed just two fours before departing off the bowling of Ali, who along with his spin twin Looknauth ensured no other batsman reached double figures.
When at began, it was a bit difficult for Demerara as well as they never got a chance to settle as the Berbice bowlers made steady inroads into the batting order.
Openers Raymond Perez (14) and Ronaldo Renee (09) fell cheaply to seamer Sylus Tyndall (1-36) and Sinclair.
All-rounder Sherfane Rutherford, like his partners before struck a single four in his innings before the in-form Seitaram (2-22) had him out caught by Brandon Persaud for 13.
With the top three batters back in the dressing room Persaud persevered for his top score, hitting a four and one six before succumbing to Ezekeil Kempatoo (1-4).
Spinner Asif Ally (2-14) removed Malcom Hubbard for duck but AliMohammed offered a slight resistance, crunching a pair of fours before departing to Sinclair who then removed Gavin Boodwah (07) and Darshan Persaud (07) in quick succession.
The 150 came up in the 45th over but Demerara only managed to add four extra runs before Ally and Seitaram cleaned up the remaining batters, Ershad Ali (19) and Keshram Shabodan (01). Looknauth was the last man standing, not out on 10.
