Defending champions Berbice will go head-to-head with arch-rivals Demerara to see who will be crowned the 2019 Hand-in-Hand Under-19, Three-day, Inter-county tournament champions.
After the second round of matches, the Berbicians lead with 17 points, followed by Demerara with 16.3 points. The Select Under-17s have 10.4 points, while Essequibo has 0.2 points.
The final round starts Wednesday (May 8) at the Lusignan Community Centre where the two front-runners clash, while the U-17s and Essequibo play at Everest.
SUMMARY: Berbice 200 (Garfield Benjamin 50, Junior Sinclair 50; Amit Persaud 6-93, Lance Roberts 4-42) and 131-2 declared (Alex Algoo 52, Sinclair 50*) beat Essequibo 62 (Kelvin Umroa 5-24, Kevlon Anderson 3-12) and 123 (Kevin Christian 31; Nigel Deodat 4-45, Sinclair 3-12).
Over the weekend, Berbice crushed Essequibo by 147 runs at the Lusignan Community Centre ground.
Openers Alex Algoo and Junior Sinclair batted aggressively to help their team blaze to 131-2 declared off just 13.2 overs with Algoo top-scoring with 52, while Junior Sinclair made an even 50 not out.
It laid the platform for a target of 270 for the lads from the Cinderella County; they responded with 123 all out off 45.4 overs. Openers Kevin Christian and Orlando Jailall batted positively until top-scorer Christian fell for 31.
Jailall attempted to build a partnership with Ameer Singh, but could only watch helplessly from the non-striker’s end, as Singh was soon bowled by Sinclair for 12. Thereafter, Essequibo lost two quick wickets of Jailall and Azim Mohamed.
Nigel Deodat and Junior Sinclair was the most destructive bowlers, grabbing 4-45 and 3-12 respectively, while Umroa supported with 2-23 to end with match figures of 7-47.
Over at the GCC ground, Bourda, rain forced a draw between the U-17s and Demerara.
