Ovid-Richardson stake claim for debut national selection

Sep 17, 2008 Sports

Daniels, Khan among the wickets in 1st Guyana Under-17 cricket trialBy Sean Devers
In steaming hot conditions on a true batting track, Harrinarine Chattergoon’s X1 defeated Dexter Solomon’s X1 by two runs in the first of three 50-overs national under-17 cricket trials at the DCC ground yesterday.

Chattergoon’s X1 batted first and led by an entertaining 54-ball 46 from Demerara opener Quincy Ovid-Richardson, reached 165-8 off their allotted overs in a game which was reduced to a 45-over affair due to a late start.

Three-wicket hauls from West Indies under-15 leg-spinner Amir Khan and pacer Seon Daniels, along with ‘tight’ bowling from medium pacer Kwame Crosse, off-spinner Ricardo Devers and left arm spinner Anthony Adams kept the batsmen on a tight leash as Solomon’s X1 reached 163 all out off the final ball of the last over as Solomon (35) and Jomal La Fleur (28) led the unsuccessful run chase.

Chattergoon’s poor form in the just concluded CLICO Inter-County two-day competition continued when he was brilliantly caught behind by a diving Solomon off left-arm pacer Andre Stoll for six from 18 balls to leave his team on 28-1.

While Chattergoon struggled to get the ball away on the small ground, Ovid-Richardson continued from where he left off in the Inter-County competition and peppered the pacers with bullet-like cuts which accounted for the bulk of his seven fours as he dominated the opening partnership.

The stocky GNIC right-hander smashed Berbice pacer Sharmindra Hardial for three scorching boundaries behind point before square-driving Stoll to the square cover boundary and pulling him disdainfully for six when he bounced and along with the subdued Kamal Ramkissoon, took the score to 71 before Ovid-Richardson clipped pacer Neil Ramalho to mid-wicket.

Ramkissoon, whose 25 lasted 63 balls and included two fours, was then run out at 100-3 when Clinton Pestano refused a call for what appeared to be a certain single and Ramkissoon was left stranded.

Jamally Odle (2) then pulled a short ball from left-arm spinner Trinson Carmichael to long-on at 114-4, while Pestano who hit two fours from 48 balls in his confident 24, was neatly stumped by Solomon off Khan at 122-5.

Crosse (7) stuck around for 29 balls before he was stumped off Khan at 128-6 while Andy Mohan (9) was bowled by Arif Habib at 146-7.

Daniels struck four mighty sixes in his 21-ball unbeaten 29 as Khan (5-2-7-2) bowled with excellent control and got support from Carmichael (9-2-21-1) and off-spinner LaFleur (8-1-24-0) as they kept the batsman in check.

Habib took 2-35 from five overs while Stoll (6-2-24-1) and Romalho (6-0-31-1) were the other wicket takers.

When Solomon’s X1 began their reply, Dominique Rikhi (0) was caught behind off Daniels while three runs later it was 7-2 when Shameer Fazal (2) was struck on his shoulder as he attempted to pull a quick bouncer from Rensford Beaton and the ball was deflected onto his stumps.

Essequibian Herell Greene, the leading run scorer in the Inter County competition with 118 runs from two matches, was then caught and bowled by Daniels who bowled with pace and swung the ball, and Solomon’s X1 were 35-3 in seven overs.

Daniels soon bowled Delon Fernandes for a second ball duck with a perfect in-swinging yorker to rip open the top order.

Crosse bowled with clever variation and removed Dayanand Roopnarine (13) and LaFleur whose 28 lasted 31 balls and was decorated with four fours just when they were building a partnership to leave the score on 92-6.

Devers, the leading wicket-taker in the Inter-County competition with 13 wickets from two games and Adams who had a hat-trick in the Inter County series, kept the shackles on the batsmen with controlled bowling as the runs dried up.

Despite being struck for boundaries by Habib, Devers, who switched to One-Day mode after his two-day Inter-County success, had figures of 9-4-16-0 while Adams (9-1-22-1) offered excellent support to Daniels (6-0-31-3) and Crosse (5-0-17-2)

Khan, the only right-arm leg spinner in the trials, bowled for both teams and wrapped up the lower order to finish with 3-20 from eight overs.

After Habib, who took 70 balls for his 16 and Solomon whose 35 lasted 63 balls were removed, Khan dismissed the last three batsmen.

With three needed to win from the last ball, Stoll (8) skied Khan high to short mid-wicket for a catch to end the game. The penultimate trial is fixed for today from 09:30hrs at the DCC ground the selectors are expected to name an 18-man squad after tomorrow’s final game at the same venue.