The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Inter County limited overs match between Demerara and Essequibo at the Everest Cricket Club ground saw Essequibo threatening to score the first upset of the competition before convention had the final say and Demerara prevailed by five wickets.
In a wildly fluctuating match Essequibo capitulated after batting first but fought back when Demerara batted in a low scoring encounter.
Medium pacer Paul Wintz provided the small crowd with entertainment as he bagged a six-wicket haul to help put Essequibo on the back foot.
The Cinderella County team struggled for all of the 31.1 overs their innings lasted before being dismissed for a paltry 92.
Essequibo won the toss and opted to bat first; losing their first wicket at six and, apart from a 47-run, third-wicket partnership between Royan Fredericks and Dillon Heyliger, the Essequibo batsmen struggled to score consistently amidst good bowling from the Demerara attack led by Wintz and Amir Khan.
Fredericks scored 33 from 70 balls and the next highest scores came from Ricardo Adams, who made 14 and Heyliger, who made 12.
Boundaries were a rarity in the Essequibo innings with only five being struck.
Wintz ended with 6 for 26 from 9.1 overs, Khan 3 for 18 from seven overs and Zaheer Mohamed, 1 for 15 also from seven overs.
Demerara, in reply, lost four early wickets to be in a spot of bother.
Heyliger had Rajendra Chandrika lbw with the last ball of the first over for a duck while Chanderpaul Hemraj was caught off Anthony Adams for six.
Shemroy Barrington was lbw to Anthony Adams for 10 as Demerara slipped to 19-3 and former West Indies test player Travis Dowlin was dismissed for seven by Ricardo Adams in the 13th over as Demerara slipped to 31-4.
Vishal `Cheesy’ Singh and Joseph Perry batted cautiously to take the score to 68 before Perry was lbw for 11 from 46 deliveries in the 29th over to Anthony Adams who finished with impressive figures of 3-16 from 10 overs.
Demerara had a boundary drought for 30 overs until Mohamed drove a delivery from Ricardo Adams past extra cover for four. Before that, the only other boundary was hit by Hemraj in the fourth over. Mohamed finished the game with the third four in the Demerara innings as Demerara formalized the proceedings in 36.4 overs. Mohamed finished not out on 14 from 27 balls while Singh was not out on 29 from 89 balls.
Heyliger had 1 for 19 from seven overs, Ricardo Adams picked up 1 for 22 from eight overs.
Demerara play their second game today at the same venue against the President’s XI who overcame Berbice in their first game while Essequibo will hope to beat defending champions Berbice at DCC.
