Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair produced outstanding figures of 7-15 from 9.5 overs to bowl Berbice to a 27-run victory over rivals Demerara in the opening round of the Guyana Cricket Board Senior Inter-County 50-Over Tournament at the Blairmont Community Centre Ground on Saturday.
Berbice was shot out for just 132 in 32.4 overs with a top score of 26 (4x4s) by Romario Shepherd. However, Sinclair, sharing the new ball for the defending champions, seized the moment with a magical spell to rout Demerara for 105 from 25.5 overs.
Shepherd’s score from 42 balls and the next best was Sinclair with 19 (1×4;1×6) from 22 balls while Seon Hetmyer (18) and Seon Glasgow (17) were the other contributors.
The Demerara fast-bowlers thrived as Qumar Torrington (2-22) and Sherfane Rutherford (2-18) ran through the top-order. The void was enough for Steven Sankar who was the difference, snagging 3-22 with his leg-spin.
A wicket each from the slow-bowling pair of Akshaya Persaud (1-16) and Richie Looknauth (1-9) provided extra proficiency for Demerara.
Berbice struggled at 90-5 at one point, following the assault from the pacers, which left much work to do for the middle-order.
Sinclair then single-handedly bowled his team to victory as he on show from the introduction by knocking over West Indies Test opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul for one.
Mathew Nandu (21), Akshaya Persaud (0) Looknauth, Rutherford(6), Ronaldo Alimohamed (4) and Bernard Bailey (6) all succumbed to the guile of Sinclair.
Looknauth struck seven fours in a defiant 36.
Pacer Shamar Joseph grabbed 1-18 alongside Veerasammy Permaul who had 1-12.
SCORECARD: https://cricheroes.in/scorecard/7987536/GCB-Senior-Inter-County-Super-50/Berbice-vs-Demerara#teams
Notably, Shimon Hetmyer, who was named as part of the Berbice squad, did not turn up for the game.
Efforts by News Room to ascertain the circumstances surrounding his absence proved futile.
Team officials declined to offer an official reason for his no-show.
Additionally, opener Chandrapaul Hemraj, who was part of the Demerara squad, was absent, but had informed Demerara’s selectors of his unavailability for the first round.
Following the conclusion of the CPL, it is understood Hemraj ventured to the US to play there.
On Sunday, the GCB Select XI battles Essequibo at the Georgetown Cricket Club from 09:00h.
The tournament is used to select the Guyana Harpy Eagles’ 14-man squad for the Regional Super50 that starts October 17 in Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana has not won a Regional 50-Over title since 2005 and is seeking to complete the ‘Regional Treble’ this year.
