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E’bo take 1st day honours against Demerara
By Sean Devers in Essequibo
In association with Bryden & Fernandes & Arabian Hotel
Incisive fast bowling from National pacer Trevon Garraway and debutant Trevor Benn and a 45-run 4th wicket stand between Yogeshwar Lall and Delon Heyliger gave Essequibo the first honours in their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior 4-day day cricket encounter at the Anna Regina ground yesterday.
Garraway 4-62 from 15.3 overs got support from Benn (3-19 from 9) as the star-studded Demerara line up were bowled out 34 minutes before Tea for 119.
Trevon Garraway (left) and Trevor Benn
Ironically, it was another Essequibian (Former West Indies Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan) who top-scored for Demerara with a gritty 31 from 65 balls and 58 minutes as Essequibo, who have not beaten Demerara at this level since 1980, dominated the early rounds of this battle.
When bad light stopped play at 17:42hrs with 2 overs left in the day, Essequibo were 109-4, just 11 runs adrift of first innings points with Heyliger unbeaten on 35 with 2 fours and a six.
Chris Barnwell who picked up the first two wickets in the space of a run to leave Essequibo on 18-2, has so far taken 2-25 while off-spinners Zaheer Mohamed and Steven Jacobs, who trapped Lall leg before in the penultimate over of the day for 31 made from 111 balls and 118 minutes with a solitary boundary, are the other wicket takers for the visitors.
Demerara, with 6 First-class players including 2 who have played at the senior level for the West Indies, won the toss and elected to bat on a low track with variable bounce which made stroke-play a tedious task.
In scorching heat and watched by a fair size and vocal crowd, Garraway and Benn, who both play their club cricket in the City, swung the new ball prodigiously and also extracted seam movement to push Demerara on the ropes.
While the surface was not a stroke-maker’s dream, only Barnwell (16) who left the ball alone and was bowled by Benn at 37-5, could blame the pitch for their demise.
The experienced Garraway and the hyper-active Benn, never short of banter for the opposition, bowled unchanged for over an hour to give their team a great start in the contest.
Rajendra Chandrika (2) was leg before to Benn, who 3 runs later removed Shemroy Barrington (7) as Demerara slipped to 9-2.
Leading from the front. Demerara Skipper Sarwan drives elegantly through cover during his top score of 31 against Essequibo yesterday.
West Indies ODI left-hander Leon Johnson (4) was sent packing by Garraway at 17-4 while Steven Jacobs (2) edged Garraway to the keeper 3 runs later as Essequibo took control of the first senior 4-day game in Essequibo in 5 years.
Sarwan opted to bat at number 7 to give the younger batters an opportunity to show their worth in much the same way that Carl Hooper did during his last days as Guyana Skipper and along with the left-handed Krishna Deosarran staged a minor recovery by taking the score from 37 to 68 when Deosarran, who was batting well, played an impetuous pull shot and top edged a catch off Garraway, to the keeper. His 22 lasted 68 minutes, 39 balls and included 5 fours, 4 of which were his first scoring shots on the large outfield.
From 69-6 at Lunch, Demerara slipped to 88-7 when Vice-Captain Mohamed (9) edged national under-19 left-arm spinner Anthony Adams to the Keeper and when off-spinner Andrew Williams had Sarwan stupendously caught by a diving Garraway at extra-cover at 96-8, the Essequibians were ecstatic.
Troy Gonsalves and his Everest teammate wicketkeeper Joseph Perry took the score to 117 before Perry (9) who was batting with a level head and looking well set, sacrificed his wicket after Gonsalves called for an almost impossible single.
Gonsalves (13 with a six) decided to throw his bat at the bowlers and eventually drilled a catch to extra cover as Garraway returned for another spell.
Essequibo’s batting has been a major let down over the years even when their bowlers do the job and chasing a small total yesterday they began their reply 24 minutes before Tea with the Atlantic Ocean tide ‘coming in’ and the pitch offering a lot more bounce and carry than when Demerara batted.
Norman Fredericks (7) edged Barnwell to the keeper at 17-1. Mahendra Boodram was put down at slip by Johnson before he had scored and again at gully when Jacobs floored a lobbed offering as Boodram, then on 7, fended a hostile bouncer from the unlucky Barnwell.
Barnwell got the last laugh when Perry held his 2nd catch behind the stumps to remove Boodram (9) a run later.
Latchman Rohit, who made 17 from 74 minutes, got himself bogged down and threw his wicket away as he attempted to hit Mohamed over the top only to see Chandrika hold a brilliant diving catch running in from long-on to leave the host on 61-3.
The compact Lall and the more free-scoring Heyliger joined forces to defy the Demerara bowlers before Lall, who seemed more intent on hearing the Umpire call ‘time’ than looking to score, pushed forward to an arm ball from Jacobs and was given LBW minutes before the close.
Heyliger is looking very positive and Garraway is with him as they hope to give Essequibo first innings points early to and build a lead. Gajanand Singh was left out of the Demerara starting eleven while Damion Vantull did not play due to a finger injury on his bowling hand sustained during a club match on Saturday.
Play is set to start at 9:52hrs today the 2nd day.
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