Berbice dethroned! Demerara crowned new Inter-county 50-over champs

Inspired by a counter-attacking half-century from Richie Looknauth and then incisive bowling from Ronaldo Alimohamed and Sherfane Rutherford, Demerara dethroned Berbice to lift the Senior Inter-County 50-over trophy on Saturday the GCC ground, Bourda.

Watched on by an animated crowd at the former Test venue, the home side rallied from 89-4 to post 194 and then bowled brilliantly to emerge with a 63-run win, limiting a powerful Berbice batting line-up to just 131 in 28.3 overs.

WATCH: Post-match comments by Demerara captain Tevin Imlach

WATCH: Post-match comments by Berbice captain Veerasammy Permaul

WATCH: Post-match comments by Man-of-the-Match Ronaldo Alimohamed 

Inserted to take first strike, Demerara slipped to 38-3 with Romario Shepherd and Nial Smith combining to remove the in-form Tagenarine Chanderpaul (5), Chandrapaul Hemraj (29) and Mavindra Dindyal (2).

Skipper Tevin Imlach (39 off 45) and Akshaya Persaud (19 off 34) repaired the early damage with a 51-run fourth-wicket partnership before the latter was bowled by Kevin Sinclair.

Sinclair, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, then accounted for Imlach and Sherfane Rutherford (21 off 41) as Demerara slipped to 131-6 by the 29^th over.

The innings lasted another 10.5 overs, during which time Looknauth was able to add crucial runs with the lower-order, which proved vital to the outcome.

Looknauth was left not out on 52 off 50 (5x4s, 2x6s), adding a combined 46 for the last two wickets with Steven Sankar and Qumar Torrington, who accumulated just six runs between them.

Off-spinner Sinclair finished with 4-31 and 13 wickets in the tournament, while Shepherd had 2-18.

The decision by Berbice to open with Nigel Deodat (7) and Sinclair (10), followed by Clinton Pestano (6) at three backfired, and the absence of significant contributions from the middle-order meant Demerara’s total became mountainous once the pressure was applied.

Kevlon Anderson played fluently for his 40 and Shimron Hetmyer struck five fours in his 25 off 23, but that aside, the batting was abysmal, as alluded to by skipper Veerasammy Permaul after the game.

After Torrington, Brenard Bailey and Sankar accounted for the top three, Alimohamed and Rutherford employed the short-ball tactic to good effect, combining to remove Berbice ‘big six’ Shimron Hetmyer, Anderson, Seon Hetmyer, Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie and Permaul.

Man-of-the-Match Alimohamed picked up 4-29 off eight overs and Rutherford 2-36 off seven.

From this tournament the Guyana Harpy Eagles squad will be selected to compete in the upcoming CG United Super50 Cup in Trinidad from October 17 to November 11.

Individual awards

Player-of-the-Match: Ronaldo Alimohamed (4-29)

Most Runs: Tagenarine Chanderpaul (169; Avg 84.5)

Most Wickets: Kevin Sinclair (13)

Most Valuable Player: Tagenarine Chanderpaul (169; Avg 84.5)