West Indies Under-15 opener, Rampertab Ramnauth, scored the only half century while Aaron Beharry, Fawaz Gafoor and Tyrese Sealy chalked up good performances as the second Berbice Cricket Board Under-19 trial match came to an end yesterday.
At Albion Sports Complex, early morning showers saw the start being delayed by one hour. However, when the skies cleared, it was a productive day for Ramnauth. The Port Mourant left-hander showed his temperament after being dropped on 21 by the wicketkeeper.
The 15-year-old stroked five boundaries on his way to 54 before he was caught at extra cover.
Gafoor also made use of a flat pitch to make 47 decorated with seven fours and one six, which was belted through long on off of pacer, Isai Thorne before being trapped leg before wicket to Sealy. Sealy also accounted for the wickets of Abdul Ramsammy and Tomani Ceasar to end with three for 20.
Off-spinner, Beharry showed his worth as well, returning three for 17 while Jeremy Sandhia, Nigel Deodat, Christopher Deroop and Akash Heralall had two wickets each. Notable cameos came from Zeynul Ramsammy (19), Lloyd David (12) and Ariel Tilku (11).
In the match, Schultz’s XI made 128 all out from 41 overs while Glasgow’s XI reached 129 for nine in 40 overs to win the match. After the contest, Berbice selector Leslie Solomon expressed his views on the two matches over the weekend.
According to Solomon, the first match showed the efforts of a long time off for most of the players with their fitness being not up to par but in the second contest, he was more pleased with the performances.
The longstanding selector indicated that he was “very pleased” with the innings of Gafoor and Ramnauth but reckoned their shot selection and patience needs to improve a bit more.
Solomon also disclosed that the pacers were exploited more than expected and the spinners did not bowl as well as he would have liked.
Nevertheless, Solomon viewed the weekend as a success and revealed this squad would be trimmed to 26 before the next trial match this weekend.
