Berbice retain El Dorado title despite Barnwell’s shot-filled century

Oct 11, 2010 Sports

By Sean Devers
Berbice continued their dominance at the senior inter-county level by retaining their El Dorado 50-over cricket title with a 5-wicket win against arch rivals Demerara in Saturday’s final at the Guyana National Stadium.

Keeper Anthony Bramble watches Chris Barnwell savagely pull Narsingh Deonarine for 4 during his pugnacious 127 at Providence on Saturday.

Slow bowler Royston Crandon grabbed 5-33 from 8 overs and got support from leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo (3-24 from 8.5) on a ‘slow turner’ as Demerara slumped from 188-4 in the 35th over when Barnwell was bowled by Bishoo for a shot-filled 127, to 231 all out in 44.4 overs.
Left-hander Vishal Singh, who made 31 from 37 balls with 3 fours, was the only other batsman to reach 15 after Barnwell, who launched a vicious attack on the bowlers; hitting 9 fours and 5 sixes in his entertaining 117-ball innings, departed and the last 7 wickets tumbled for 43 runs.
Richard Ramdeen hit a cameo 34-ball 31 with 4 fours and a six, Skipper Assad Fudadin looked solid in 32 from 58 balls and Man-of-the-Match Crandon hit two fours in a 37-ball 29 before Berbice slipped to 134-5 with 20 overs to go as Demerara fought back.
However, Jonathon Foo and his 2009 National under-19 Skipper Anthony Bramble, celebrated their debut senior 50-over National team selection with a matured and responsible unfinished 98-run partnership to see Berbice to victory with 4.5 overs to spare.
Foo finished unbeaten on 46 from 65 balls and the manner in which his innings was compiled was a good sign ahead of this month’s Regional One-Day competition in Jamaica while Bramble, picked for the National team head of Christian mainly on the strength of his ability with the bat, showed excellent temperament in his 50 not out from 63 balls as Berbice added another title to their packed ‘hardware’ cupboard.
National under-19 leg-spinner Amir Khan followed up his 5-wicket haul on debut in his last game against Essequibo in Wakenaam with 2-31 from 10 impressive overs while medium Kellon Carmichael finished an impressive competition with 2-31 in a losing effort for the home team who had beaten Berbice in the preliminary round at Bourda.
Watched by a small crowd in sweltering heat at the start of the Day/Night game, Demerara, already without Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan due to personal overseas commitments, were further weakened by the unavailability of the dependable Shivnarine Chanderpaul due to a stiff neck and Travis Dowlin who reported sick and did not turn up at the venue.
Shemroy Barrington (12) wasted his chance to impress and was taken at point off Keon Joseph at 37-1 in the 7th over before Barnwell dominated the 67-run 2nd wicket stand with Captain Leon Johnson.

Berbice Skipper Assad Fudadin collects the El Dorado trophy from DDL Maria Munroe after Demerara went down by 5 wickets in Saturday’s final.

Narsingh Deonarine removed Johnson (14) and Steven Jacobs (11) to leave the score on 140-3.
The pugnacious Barnwell smashed the expensive Deonarine (2-44 from 5 overs) down the ground for four before lofting him for six off the next ball to reach his century and even when he was sent packing by Bishoo, Demerara were still in the driver’s seat on a slow outfield which looked far from the ‘billiards table smooth’ surface of less than a year ago.
While Singh worked the ball into the gaps, Jamal Hinckson (0) and Derwin Christian (5) fell to impetuous shots to Crandon to leave the score on 196-6 as Berbice took the upper hand.
The last 4 wickets collapsed for just a single run in an embarrassing lower order display to emphasize how far the level of Guyana’s premier cricket tournament has dropped in the last decade.
Zaheer Mohamed (9) was removed by Crandon, Andre Stoll was bowled by Bishoo, Singh stroked Crandon to Fudadin at extra cover and Crandon finished off the innings by removing Carmichael for a duck and despite producing a shabby catching display Berbice were back in the game after Barnwell’s terrific knock.
Sewnarine Chattergoon’s struggles continued when he was stupendously caught at point by a diving Barrington for 1 at 18-1 while Deonarine (7) also failed to get going and was caught behind off Carmichael.
Stoll got rid of Ramdeen and when Fudadin was well caught and bowled and Crandon was taken over his head at extra cover, Khan, a former West Indies under-19 player, had struck twice in quick succession and Demerara were fighting back.
But Foo, put down by Jacobs early in his innings, and Bramble showed refreshing commitment and level-headedness to progress from a slow start to post their match-winning partnership.