A solid all-round performance from captain and national middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine guided Berbice to a convincing seven-wicket victory over defending champions Demerara in their second round clash of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/El Dorado-sponsored senior Inter County limited overs match at the Blairmont Community Centre ground, yesterday.
Deonarine took 3-34 to restrict Demerara to 177-9 from their 50 overs despite a patient 57 from national all-rounder Chris Barnwell.
The left-handed batsman, who last played for Guyana against Bermuda in the 2008 Stanford Twenty20 competition before being sidelined for six months due to a back injury, returned with the bat to score 46 and supported by national players Royston Crandon (43) and Assad Fudadin (56 not out) ensured the team reached 179-9 from 42.2 overs.
Berbice lost Guyana and West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who was caught at the wicket by Joseph Perry off the bowling of Kellon Carmichael for 10 in the sixth over but Deonarine and Crandon proceeded to attack the Demerara bowlers and the lusty hitting left skipper Leon Johnson and company bewildered.
The two took the score to 84-1 before Crandon, who struck two fours and one six, was caught by Forde at long on off Sauid Drepaul after a 63-run, second-wicket partnership with Deonarine from 15 overs.
Deonarine, who was dropped by Ferrier off Zaheer Mohammed when on 36 and Fudadin, then added 72 runs for the third wicket, the highest partnership of the match.
Deonarine was eventually stumped by Perry off Mohammed two overs later with Berbice 21 runs away from their target.
Fudadin duly got to his half-century when he struck his 64th delivery from Mohammed over extra-cover for four, his second to go along with his three sixes.
The end came at 4.33pm and in the 43rd over when national middle-order batsman Gajanand Singh, square drove a short delivery from Mohammed to the point boundary to spark off celebrations amongst the strong Berbice supporters who cheered every run that was scored lustily.
Earlier, Demerara won the toss and opting to take first strike were restricted to 177-9 from their 50 overs despite a patient innings of 57 (79 balls, 5x4s; 2x6s) from Barnwell.
He was supported by an innings of 46 from Johnson and a fighting 23 from Mohammed.
The Demerara batsmen were kept in check for the most part by opening bowlers Esaun Crandon and debutant Paul Wintz who bowled a tidy line and length and were backed up by some superb fielding on a heavy outfield which ensured the defending champions only scored 55 runs from the first three power plays which spanned 20 overs.
So effective was the Berbice bowling attack that just nine boundaries (4x6s; 5x4s) were recorded by the Demerara batsmen who found it difficult to get the ball away especially when the slower bowlers were introduced from the 17th over.
Prior to the introduction of the spinners, Barnwell, who scored seven of the nine boundaries, had pulled Crandon through midwicket for successive boundaries that pushed the score to 27-0 in the ninth over and, at the end of the first power play, Demerara were 30-0 with Barnwell on 19 and Rajendra Chandrika 8.
Only 13 runs were scored from the second power play with Barnwell hitting Wintz through cover-point for the lone boundary to move to 30 whilst a more sedate Chandrika (10) was dismissed by Wintz who had him lbw to a delivery that kept low.
Johnson and Barnwell then added 42 runs for the second wicket.
The introduction of regional record holder for most wickets Mahendra Nagamootoo did not quite have the desired result as he was soon dispatched with disdain by Barnwell over a wide mid-wicket for six, the first of the match which pushed Demerara to 78-1 at the half way mark.
Barnwell posted his 50 with another audacious shot for six over midwicket, this time off West Indies left-arm orthodox spinner Veerasammy Permaul who replaced Nagamootoo.
But after hitting Royston Crandon for another four over mid-off he was caught by Homchand Pooran who ran around from wide long-on to pull off the catch. All told, Barnwell faced 79 balls and struck five fours and two sixes in his 57.
Demerara were then 85-2 in the 26th over with Johnson on 15 and even though they managed to pick up the singles with the odd twos and threes in between, the boundaries were somewhat extinct.
The 100 came up when former national under-19 captain Steven Jacobs (16) pushed a Permaul delivery to long-off for two in the 31st over but some superb fielding and a direct hit from Chattergoon who was stationed at midwicket and ran around to backward square leg, accounted for Jacobs at 117-3 in the 35th over.
From there onwards, it went all downhill for the defending champions, despite the efforts of Johnson who struck Permaul inside out over extra cover for six in his 46 and Zaheer Mohammed (23) who also dispatched Nagamootoo over midwicket for another six in the penultimate over.
Deonarine duly sent back Johnson who was caught by Gajanand Singh at deep backward square leg and Orin Forde in successive balls to leave Demerara on 142-6 in the 42nd over.
Demerara was only able to score 40 runs in the last 10 overs for a price of five wickets.
Drepaul ended with 1-15 and Nagamootoo 1-29.
Berbice will play their final preliminary round match today against Essequibo at the Wales Community Centre ground from 0930 hrs, and should Essequibo pull off an upset, then it would come down to run rate to see who will qualify for the final that will be played under the lights at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence on Friday.
