INTER-COUNTY 50-OVER: Dominant Berbice, Essequibo aim to seal final spot

Berbice and Essequibo were dominant round one winners in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Senior Inter-County 50-Over tournament, and victory in their respective matches today would set a rematch of last year’s final.

Berbice faces the GCB Select XI at Enmore Community Centre Ground, while Demerara hosts Essequibo at Georgetown Cricket Club, Bourda. Both matches commence at 09:00h.

Essequibo will enter high in confidence after they hammered Select XI by 172 runs on Sunday at GCC, led by a classy knock from Malcolm Hubbard and an all-round bowling performance.

Hubbard struck six maximums and three fours in his 73-ball 76 to lift Essequibo to 273-9, after which they bundled Select XI for 101 in 32.2 overs.

Ricardo Adams (48), Antony Adams (39), Kemol Savory (29), and Kevon Boodie (20) offered support as young pacer Isai Thorne worked up some heat to grab 4-52 from his ten overs while Junior Sinclair 3-40 and Christopher Barnwell 2-60 did the damage for Select XI.

After failing to trouble the score, National Selectee Quentin Sampson rocked the Select XI top-order, grabbing 4-18 from five overs while Garfield Williams (2-10) and Antony Adams (2-25) chipped in the wickets column.

Opener Raymond Perez (25) and Suresh Dhani (23) were the only batsmen to surpass 20 for the Select XI.

The Inter-County tournament is being used as a gauge to select Guyana Harpy Eagles’ 14-man squad for the Regional Super50 in Trinidad and Tobago from October 17 – November 11.

Guyana has not won a Regional 50-Over title since 2005 and is seeking to complete the ‘Regional Treble’ this year.

GCB Inter-County Super50 Fixtures