GT&T, Gizmos & Gadgets Inter-Association U-17 cricket (1st round)…Solomon hits fifty as G/Town & E/Bank register victories

Aug 22, 2008 Sports

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By Sean Devers
Skipper Dexter Solomon led from the front with a responsible 56 while pacer Seon Daniels picked up three early wickets and Amir Khan and Ricardo Devers befuddled the batsmen with incisive spin bowling to spur Georgetown to an emphatic 103-run win against East Coast yesterday at Everest in the first round of the GT&T/Gizmos & Gadgets Demerara under-17 Inter-Association 50-overs cricket competition.

At Wales, East Bank beat West Demerara by 11 runs in a game which was reduced to a 20-over affair due to a late start to claim the other first round victory.

Georgetown, face West Demerara today at Everest while East Bank and East Coast battle at Lusignan in today’s second round matches.

At Everest, Georgetown were asked to bat first in sweltering heat on a sluggish track and heavy outfield and led by Solomon’s 104-ball half century, 30 from Dillon Fernandes and 27 from Andre Stoll, recovered from 18-3 to reach 167 all out in 44.3 overs.

Daniels, who took 3-27 from 6 overs, reduced the visitors to 32-3 before West Indies under-15 leg-spinner Amir Khan (8.2-3-13-3) and off-spinner Devers (8-5-7-2) spun the ball prodigiously to cause all sorts of problems for the batsman as East Coast crashed to 60 all out in 29.2 overs despite a defiant 62-ball 30 from 12-year-old left-hander Brian Sattaur.

Pacers Royston Simond (2-19) and Daryl Ross combined to push the City side on the ropes at 18-3 with Quincy Ovid (0), Kumar Ramkissoon (2) and Dayanand Roopnarine (2) dismissed in quick succession.

Rajiv Singh (14) and the left-handed Fernandes repaired the early damage with a 29-run partnership before Singh edged Delroy Charles to the keeper at 47-4.

Fernandes and Solomon then took the score to 100 with sensible batting before Fernandes was bowled by little leg-spinner Kamesh Yadram who also accounted for Carlos La Rose (5) six runs later.

When Khan (3) was run out for 3 at 112-7 East Coast were again on top and it took a defiant 50-run eight wicket stand between Solomon who hit the first boundary of the match in the 28th over and the left-handed Stoll to take their side past the 150 mark as Yadram (2-44), Simond (2-19) and Mir Mohamed (2-8) maintained the pressure on the Georgetown batsmen.

Solomon showed wonderful temperament and nudged the ball nicely into gaps while driving the loose delivers with confidence. When he was eventually caught behind trying to steer Mohamed to third man, his 56 had included two fours and the score was 162-8.

Stoll who curbed his natural aggression and supported his Skipper with level-headed batting, was bowled by Keon Franklyne before Mohamed removed Daniels for a duck as the innings ended
with 33 balls to spare.

Daniels quickly sent back Mohamed (0) and Charles (8) in the third over to leave the score on 11-2 before removing Franklyn for five at 32-3.

Sattaur looked a bright prospect for the future and the manner in which he worked the balls of his pads and his classy cover driving off the fast bowlers, entertained the small but vocal crowd and kept his team in the fight once he was at the crease.

Once spin was introduced in the 14th over at 40-3, the runs dried up as Khan and Devers, like they did at the under-15 level last year, went to work.

East Coast lost their last seven wickets for just 20 runs in 16.2 overs. Khan and Devers, who bowled with excellent control, conceded just 20 runs between them.

Suresh Lall 30 was bowled at 47-4 by Devers who also trapped Yadram leg before for a duck in his next over and one run later while Sattaur seemed a bit unfortunate to be given leg before to Khan at 54-5.

None of the other batsmen reached double figures as the spin twins took complete control of proceedings and ensured Georgetown take an early lead in the four team competition.

At Wales in the other opening match played yesterday, Shameer Fazal top scored with 26 and got support from Khemraj Singh (25) as East Bank reached 80-3 when their 50 overs expired.

Off-spinner Amir Khan took 3-17 from three overs of off-spin for the home team who were bowled out for 69 in 19.2 overs despite a fighting unbeaten 27 from opener Kerwin Bennett.

Fazal returned to take 2-7 as six West Demerara batsmen perished via the run out route.
Before the start of play yesterday the teams at Everest were met by Gizmos & Gadgets CEO Ravi Mangar who said he was pleased that his business entity was involved in such a sporting activity for the first time and promised continued support for cricket in the future.

Ravindra Persaud, Marketing Manager of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) explained that GT&T will co-sponsor the competition and will provide shirts for the players to use in the final which is scheduled for Sunday at Enmore.

DCB President Bissondyal Singh thanked the sponsors for coming on board, concluding that under-17 cricket is very important since it is at this stage most players start playing the game seriously with the hope of making it a career.

He added that cricket in Demerara is at the cross roads since sponsorship is very hard to get and urged more businesses to support Guyana’s national sport.

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