Seon Hetmyer guided the Berbice Under-23 team to a narrow victory over the Demerara Under-23 team to lift the Colin Wiltshire lien trophy at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground yesterday.
Man-of-the-match Hetmyer was the glue that held the Berbice side together despite vital aggressive knocks from Anthony Bramble and skipper Eugene La Fleur.
In the end it was Keyron Fraser, who played the perfect foil to the tiring Hetmyer that hit the winning run, to the long off boundary, as Berbice finished on 207-8 from 44.3 overs.
The right handed Hetmyer, who survived a run out after the ball was gathered by Trevon Griffith at gully while on 70, finished on an undefeated 87. La Fleur and Bramble contributed 35 and 32 runs respectively while Fraser was left not out on 13.
Demerara medium pacer Kellon Carmicheal’s 5-44 was not enough in the end to stop the Berbicians from overhauling his team’s 204 all out. Leg spinner Amir Khan, although only capturing one wicket, troubled many of the batsmen with his variations.
Griffith also picked up a wicket. wicketkeeper Joseph Perry topscored with 45 after Demerara won the toss and decided to bat first.
The usually aggressive Wasim Haslim stroked two sixes and two fours in his 28 while Elton Baker scored 22 and Travis Blyden and Andre Stoll hit 19 apiece.
Herman Latcha and Keon Joseph were the main wicket takers with returns of 2-30 and 2-44 respectively.
Berbice lost three early wickets in their reply as Carmichael bowled full and straight. But it was the 71-run fourth wicket partnership between Hetmyer and La Fleur that tilted the momentum back into Berbice’s favour.
Hetmyer was the accumulator of singles and the odd boundary while La Fleur was as deft as he was aggressive. He, just like Bramble, ill-treated left-arm pacer Stoll hitting him over extra cover for six.
The Demerara players looked a bit dejected but brilliant fielding from Griffith sparked some life into them before Griffith took the wicket of La Fleur, caught by Khan. After this, Demerara made more inroads before but Hetmyer once again took the lead role with Fraser, who followed the lead of his senior partner.
The two communicated and ran well between the wicket as the game went down to the wire. Demerara will now travel to Berbice to play for the Leslie Amsterdam trophy on September 29.
