Berbice beat Essequibo by 79 runs

BERBICE beat Essequibo by 79 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in the final round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) sponsored Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company Under-19 one-day tournament yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.By virtue of the win, Berbice will face Demerara in the final today at the same venue.
Set a revised target of 147 in 40 overs, Essequibo folded for 67 in 19 overs.
Earlier, the Essequibo bowlers produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict an ordinary Berbice line-up to a modest 146-9 in 46 overs after they had decided to bat first.
Rain intervened twice, reducing the innings to 46 overs, but it was a struggle for the Berbicians from the word go as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
Matthew Hardial top-scored for Berbice with a patient knock of 56, inclusive of four boundaries, while Brandon Prasad and Alex Algoo contributed 20 and 17 respectively, and were the only two other batsmen to manage double figures.
For Essequibo, Siddiq Mohamed was the chief destroyer with figures of 4-34.He received support from Keemo Paul (3-28), while Akinie Adams and Reyaz Khan, both chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Set a revised target of 156 in 46 overs, Essequibo’s inning was further reduced to 40 overs. They were eventually set a target of 147, due to rain.
However, the Berbice bowlers maintained a disciplined line and length to eventually bowl out their opponents in 19 overs. Joel Seitaram (4-24), Sylus Tyndall (3-10) and Asif Ali (3-13), were the wicket takers.
For Essequibo, Mark Williams (24) and Mohamed (12) were the only major contributors with the bat.