England U-15s thrash Berbice

The touring England U-15 cricketers thrashed a Berbice U-15 side by seven wickets yesterday at the Blairmont Ground.

The touring England U-15 cricketers thrashed a Berbice U-15 side by seven wickets yesterday at the Blairmont Ground. The visitors overhauled Berbice's meager total of 112, in fine style, scoring 113-3 in only 28.5 overs. Ben Wright with 35 n.o and Matt Cooke 17 n.o, shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 41 to steer their team home. Reuben Reid with 30 and captain Michael O'Shea 28, laid the early foundation for England's comprehensive win.

The English had an early set back going after their target when they lost Hugo Rawlinson for a 'duck' with only one run on the board. However, they recovered well to complete their fourth victory over Berbice in the four years they have competed at this level. Earlier the Berbice team batted first and were immediately in trouble when they lost their first wicket with the score on ten, Luneshwar Jitlall, bowled by Mark Holmes without scoring. Next to go was captain Anil Solomon, who was caught by his opposite number Michael O'Shea, for 6 and Berbice were 12-2.

Terrence De Cunha and Dane Benny took the score to 36, before De Cunha was run out for 13, going for a second suicidal run. He paid the price and Berbice were in a spot of bother, at 36-3. More trouble followed, as Benny who was playing reasonably well got impatient with the tight England bowling and came down the pitch to drive and was caught at mid-off by O'Shea off the persevering Matt Cooke for 9 and Berbice were up against it at 47-4. The Berbice 50 was belatedly brought up in the 26th over. A second run out saw Berbice plunge further into trouble as the new batsman Leon Saroopchand perished for 7 and the lads from the ancient county in tatters at 66-5.

Imran Alli joined Javed Mohammed who looked the best of the batsmen and they tried to push the score along. The second top-scorer for Berbice, Mohammed soon perished, for 20, caught by O'Shea at mid-off, off Matthew Roberts. Berbice were now tottering at 84-6 in the 35th over and looked in danger of not scoring three figures. Ali was next to go stumped by wicket-keeper Yaut for 9 and Berbice slid further into chaos at 86-7 in the 37th over.

Kevon Edwards joined Kumarlall and they eventually brought up the Berbice 100 in the 40th over. The eight wicket, that of Edwards, fell with the score on 101 as the innings declined rapidly. Murphy La Rose joined Kumarlall at the fall of Edwards' wicket and was dropped at cover before he had scored. Kumarlall was next to go stumped by Yaut off Roberts for 7 and Berbice, a disappointing 102-9 in the 42nd over.

It was all over for Berbice when the fortunate' La Rose was adjudged LBW for six and they were all out for 112 in 43.5 overs. Extras top scored with 29. A number of trophies and gifts were given at the end of the match to various officials and members of both teams. Man-of-the-match was Matthew Roberts who took 3-30 bowling for England. The umpires were Keith Sultan, Ashook Bridgemohan and Bharrat Gokhul.

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Article written and submitted by Stanley Philips
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Posted by James