-despite Shivgobin’s all-round performance
Skipper Ranole Bourne and national Under-19 left arm spinner Totaram Bishun led Georgetown to a convincing 61 runs victory over West Demerara in their first round clash of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)/German’s Restaurant/ W&H Rambarran Under-19 Inter-association tournament yesterday.
Playing at the Everest Cricket Club ground, Georgetown who are the defending champions won the toss in sultry conditions and were bowled out for 152 from 42.4 overs, with Delon Fernandes and Ryan Rajmangal both contributing 33 against the spin bowling of Kishan Shivgobin (5-26) and Madha Dhanpaul 3-19.
In their turn at the crease, West Demerara crumbled from a comfortable 68-1 to 91 all out, with only Shivgobin who opened the batting and was forced to retire hurt suffering from cramps, contributing a worthy 37 against the bowling of Bourne(4-9) and Bishun 3-18.
West Demerara must have thought they had this one in the bag at the declaration of the teams as Georgetown left out skipper Trevon Griffith (disciplinary reasons), all rounder Carlos La Rose and West Indies Under-15 leg spinner Amir Khan from their final eleven.
The defending champions won the toss and took first strike on a flat track, but found themselves in a spot of bother, courtesy of some disciplined bowling from Shivgobin and Dhanpaul, followed by tactful captaincy by Ameer Khan.
National Under-17 opener Quincy Ovid-Richardson (13) and Dayanand Roopnarine (15) were back in the pavilion with only 45 runs on the tins for their team, before Ryan Rajmangal (33) and Bourne (11) joined forces to add 25 runs for the third wicket.
But Bourne was drawn out of his crease by Dhanpaul and wicketkeeper Yodeshin Parbhudin effected the stumping, the first of four for him in the innings and when Rajmangal was caught by skipper Ameer Khan at short midwicket, Georgetown were 78-4.
National Under-17 skipper Dexter Solomon (15) and Fernandes added 27 for the second wicket, with Solomon hitting Shivgobin over extra cover for four, one of the five boundaries in his team’s innings, before he got a leading edge to short cover off Shivgobin.
Fernandes continued to soldier on for his team, even though he saw the wickets of Bishun (03), Carl Rambharose (03) and Andre Stoll (00) who was caught at deep midwicket off Shivgobin, fall at the other end to leave Georgetown tottering on 119-8.
He added a further 32 for the ninth wicket with Seon Daniels (14), before Daniels was stumped by Parbhudin off Doesh Sukhu at 151-9, and was the last man to fall when he was run out by Parbhudin, leaving Ricardo Devers unbeaten on one.
West Demerara reached 17 without loss off four overs at lunch, with Shivgobin on six and Vickash Dhaniram yet to score, but they lost Dhaniram in the first over after the break, caught at the wicket by Solomon off Daniels without scoring one run later.
Shivgobin and Amir Khan (10) added 50 for the second wicket, the highest partnership of the match, with the former who was forced to use Dhaniram as his runner after sustaining the injury, hitting Bishun back over long on twice for six.
He retired hurt at 58-1 in the 19th over, with his personal contribution being 33, but that only opened the floodgates for Georgetown, who went through their opponents’ batting like a hot knife through butter.
After Amir Khan was run out by Roopnarine for 10, Bishun who remained composed despite being hit by Shivgobin to account for skipper Ameer Khan (02), Dhanpaul (03) and Yuraj Motilall (00) to leave West Demerara shakily placed on 69-4, after being 68-1.
Bourne got into the act by Parbhudin (01) and Lindo (01), while Devers had Shivgobin who retuned with his team on 71-5, caught by Roopnarine at square leg for his top score of 37 made from 73 deliveries and decorated with two sixes and one four.
Bourne returned to rattle the stumps of Sukhu (09) and Khanisham Mahabal (00) off successive deliveries, thus guiding his team to a comfortable victory that had appeared unlikely while Shivgobin was at the wicket, as West Demerara lost their final nine wickets for 23 runs.
Daniels (1-11) and Devers (1-19) offered valuable support to Bourne and Bishun.
The tournament will continue today with Georgetown going up against East Coast at Lusignan and West Demerara and East Bank clashing at Wales.
