Johnson, Anderson slam tons in final round at Bourda

Sep 28, 2018 Sports

Leon Johnson accepts his man-of-the-match award from match referee Arleigh Rutherford.

Kevlon Anderson celebrates after reaching his century.

By Zaheer Mohamed
Georgetown’s skipper Leon Johnson and Lower Corentyne’s Kevlon Anderson struck fluent centuries in the final round of the Cricket Guyana Inc./Guyana Cricket Board Jaguars 50-over franchise League yesterday at Bourda.
While Johnson’s knock stabilised the innings, the game could have gone either side as a result of Anderson’s feat, but Johnson astute captaincy and decent death bowling ensured Georgetown prevailed by 26 runs on a flat pitch.
The city side opted to bat and Robin Bacchus and Raymond Perez added 34 for the opening stand before Perez (05) was trapped infront by pacer Raun Johnson while Bacchus (14) was taken off Nail Smith one run later.
Johnson and Christopher Barnwell then put on 92 for the third wicket with level-headed batting to frustrate their opponents. The pair timed the ball well as they rotated the strike nicely with nudges and pushes and wasted little time in dispatching the bad balls.
Barnwell struck four fours and one six before he was lbw to Junior Sinclair for 43 off 50 balls while Dexter Solomon was caught off Kelvin Umroa for 16 at 156; this proved to be Lower Corentyne last success; Johnson and Omesh Dhanram batted brilliantly in an unbroken partnership of 134.
Johnson struck Veerasammy Permaul and Keith Simpson for fours while Dhanram took boundaries off Sinclair and Umroa as they continued to gather runs on both sides of the pitch.
Johnson clobbered Umroa and Sinclair for fours; he then pulled Smith to long-leg and brought up his century with a single to short mid-wicket. The left-handed Johnson clobbered 11 fours and one six in his unbeaten 111 which came off 126 balls. Dhanram smashed two fours and three sixes and faced 57 balls for his well played 59 as Georgetown posted 290-4. Smith, Johnson, Umroa and Sinclair claimed one wicket each.
Barnwell handed Georgetown the break through when he had Ramesh Kassinauth caught for four before Qumar Torrington removed Junior Sinclair for a breezy 26 which contained three fours and one six to limit Lower Corentyne to 33-2.
Jonathan Foo (06) was caught off Robin Bacchus before Anderson added 33 with Jason Sinclair who was lbw to Ashmead Nedd for 22 after hitting four fours. Anderson and Sasenarine Sukhu steadied the chase nicely with a fourth wicket stand of 105.
Their reunion started cautiously and blossomed well to keep their team in the hunt. Sukhu slammed four fours and three sixes before he was lbw to Steven Sankar for 47 while Torrington removed Permaul for 10, leaving the score at 210-6.
Anderson timed the ball well and continued to play his shots, taking boundaries off Nedd and Ramaal Lewis to dominate a 52-run stand with Simpson. He then reached his triple figure with a single through the off-side before Simpson was smartly caught by Sankar off Lewis for 19.
Barnwell was re-introduced and soon had Anderson well caught by Perez for 116; his knock included nine fours and three sixes and came off 113 balls. His dismissal virtually signaled the end of the chase as Torrington uprooted the stumps of Raun Johnson (01) while Smith (01) was run out; Lower Corentyne were bowled out for 264 in 40.1 overs. Torrington claimed 3-47 and Barnwell 2-43.
At Bush Lot, West Berbice batted first and rattled up 278 for 5. Gudakesh Motie struck 84 while Javid Karim made 74, Andrew Dutchin 39 not out and Leon Andrews 33. Bowling for Essequibo, Akieni Adams and Mark Williams took two wickets each for 31 and 45 respectively.
Essequibo fell for 163 in 38.4 overs in reply. Anthony Adams scored 53 not out while Kemol Savory made 36 and Kevon Boodie 27. Kevin Jawahir claimed 4-40, while Kevin Sinclair and Motie snared 2-28 apiece.
At Enmore, East Coast Demerara scored 251-7. Ramnarine Chatura stroked 52, Kamesh Yadram 48 and Chandrapaul Hemraj 44.Bowling for Upper Corentyne, Eon Hooper picked up 3 for 46 and Demitri Cameron 2 for 53. Upper Corentyne were bowled out for 144 in 35.3 overs in response. Anthony Bramble struck 72 while Shawn Perreira and Andy Mohan contributed 18 each. Bhaskar Yadram grabbed 4 for 33, Kamesh Yadram 2-8 and Amir Khan 2-24.
Essequibo walked away with the winning trophy and a cash prize. Best wicket-keeper prize went to Essequibo’s Kemol Savory with nine dismissals and 176 runs; Johnson was the competition leading batsman with 336 runs. Georgetown took the runner up spot.