The national Select Under – 17 side, ended day one of their second-round Hand-in-Hand sponsored Inter-County Under-19 three-day match against Demerara on 28-1 after 11 overs, trailing by 168 runs at stumps at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Ground, yesterday.
After dismissing their senior counterparts for 196 on a cloudy day at Bourda, opener Matthew Nandu and skipper Zeynul Ramsammy took their side to the close after the demise of Rampertab Ramnauth (00) who was dismissed by left-arm seamer Dequan Bamfield.
Earlier in the day, the Under-17s, after winning the toss, inserted Demerara who reached 65-1 at lunch with Robin Williams unbeaten on 33. Alphius Bookie was the other not out batsman following the dismissal of Sachin Singh (23) who was castled by left-arm spinner Chanderpaul Ramraj.
Demerara, after the break, slipped to 96-4 before a 65-minute rain interruption stalled play.
Williams, a right-hander, batted with little discomfort and punched the ball sweetly to register his fifty. He carved out four fours and a maximum before being dismissed by off-spinner Nandu for 54.
The other batsmen dismissed were Bookie (12) and Yeudister Persaud (3) who fell to Nandu and Niran Bissu (1-11) respectively.
After play resumed, Joel Spooner (27) and skipper Ashmead Nedd (17) carried the score to 155 before the latter was dismissed by off-spinner Andre Seepersaud.
His dismissal instigated a middle-order collapse as the next five wickets tumbled for 41 runs as Demerara were dismissed for 196 in 63 overs. Four of the last five wickets to fall were nabbed by Ramraj (5-34) who reaped the rewards for bowling a consistent line.
Pradesh Balkishun (21) was the only batsman to show any lower order resistance as Nandu (3-49) lent useful support to Ramraj.
