Pepsi Inter-County Cricket…Barnwell spurs Demerara to emphatic win against E’bo

Sep 22, 2013 Sports

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By Sean Devers
Demerara Captain Christopher Barnwell scored the first ton in this year’s opening round of the Pepsi Inter-County 50-over Cricket competition against Essequibo at Bourda yesterday before returning to grab two wickets as the defending champs won in emphatic fashion by 120 runs.

Barnwell’s pugnacious 101 from 85 balls led Demerara to 322- 8 when their 50 overs expired to give them two bonus points for scoring more than 300 runs in their innings.
Trevon Griffith (48), Zaheer Mohamed (49) and Rajendra Chandrika (39) also offered support for the home team.
Led by half-centuries from Vishwanauth Lall (59) and Kemo Paul (51), who put together 90 for the sixth wicket, Essequibo recovered from 73-5 to 198 all out in 43.3 overs with Barnwell, Mohamed, Steven Jacobs and Amir Khan taking two wickets each on a slow track with variable bounce.
The start of the match was delayed by 12 minutes when Ricardo Adams was declared in the Essequibo team but was not allowed to play by the GCB and it took the approval of Barnwell to prevent Essequibo, without a win at this level against Demerara since 1980, from playing with 10 members.
Playing in scorching sunshine on a fast outfield, Demerara lost Robin Bacchus (3) at 30-1 when the left-hander was hit high up on his pad and seemed unlucky be given LBW to fast bowler Gilford Moore who represented the CCC at the Regional level.
Griffith, one of six openers in the top order, missed a sweep at 92-2 and instinctively prevented the ball from hitting his wicket with his glove when two runs away from his fifty. He was given out ‘handle the ball’ after hitting seven fours from 51 balls in his innings. Griffith joined Leon Johnson who fell in similar fashion on his Inter-County debut at Albion as a 16-year-old when he tossed the ball to the bowler Mahendra Nagamootoo who appealed.
Demerara were soon 92-3 when Shemroy Barrington fell to 18-year-old left-arm spinner Herry Green for a duck.
Chandrika was soon removed by Anthony Adams as Demerara slipped 107-4, while Jacobs (14) failed to control a ball which bounced on him from off-spinner Fredericks and was caught at short third man at 134-5.
Barnwell used his IPL experience to great effect and found the gaps with ease as he reached his fifty with consecutive sixes off Fredericks who had produced a tidy spell until then.

Barnwell and Derwin Christian (26) added 88 for the sixth wicket and were especially severe on Jason Heyliger who had 2-66 from eight overs with Barnwell in particular playing some glorious shots in his magnificent hundred.
When Christian departed at 226-6 in the 38th over, Mohamed joined Barnwell whose 101 was decorated with 10 fours and five sixes from just 85 balls. Barnwell continued his onslaught before Jason Heyliger got his man at 261-7.
But by then the platform had already been set for Mohamed and Paul Wintz (23*) to share a 57-run stand which was broken when Mohamed was removed by Jason Heyliger at 318-8. Green (2-38 from 10 overs) was the only Essequibian to escape punishment.
Essequibo began their chase in promising fashion with the left-handed Fredericks playing some delightful cuts behind point for boundaries before a bullet-like straight drive nearly took left-arm speedster Andre Stoll’s ankle with it to the boundary.
Kevin Boddie also entertained the handful of spectators with some thumping shots before the 40-run stand was broken when Stoll had Fredericks caught at point for 24.
Jason Heyliger (1) was bowled by Barnwell before Jacobs bowled Boddie (29) behind his back to leave Essequibo, who only had a two-day Camp before the start of this competition, on 64-3.
It was soon 69-4 when Dellon Heyliger (5) was trapped LBW to the talented Barnwell and at 73-5 when Khan got rid of Vijay Surujpaul for a duck, the lads from the Cinderella County must have been hoping that a fairy Godmother waved her wand to stage a recovery.
With their team in deep trouble of being bowled out below the 150 mark, to hand Demerara two more bonus points, Lall and Paul staged a grand fight back with an attacking partnership before Lall, who got to his fifty with consecutive sixes off Mohamed,  lofted the off-spinner to long-off at 163-6.
Paul kept going but he got little support from the tail as the last four wickets fell for 35 runs with Paul, who hit five fours and a six from 85 balls, being last out.
The match was watched by DCB President Raj Singh and the man-of- the- match award was presented to Barnwell by DDL’s Pepsi brand executive Larry Wills.
The competition continues on Tuesday when Demerara, who lead the points table with six points, face Berbice at Bourda.

 

 

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