By Avenash Ramzan
Skipper Lomar Seecharran led from the front on Saturday, hitting a polished half-century as Guyana defeated Barbados by seven wickets in the opening game of the Under-13, 40-over bilateral series at the Lusignan Ground, East Coast Demerara.
Early morning rain reduced the contest to 36 overs per side. Inserted to bat first, Barbados posted 177-7 and Guyana responded with 178-3 from 26.5 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
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The game was witnessed by President of the Guyana Cricket Board Bissoondyal Singh and his counterpart from the Barbados Cricket Association Calvin Hope.
The Cricket West Indies Directors had both signed off on the agreement to provide young players from the two nations with early exposure to competitive cricket and the opportunity to develop their skills in a structured, cross-territory environment.
Left-hander Seecharran, one of the country’s brightest youth prospects, scored a crisp 79 off 63 balls, hitting 10 fours and three sixes.
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After the early loss of opener Nathaniel Ramkhelwan (1) with just two runs on the board, Seecharran and his deputy Sahid Gajnabi (14 off 23) added 65 for the second wicket to stabilise the innings.
Seecharran and Afraz Ali then put the game beyond the Bajans, stitching together a third wicket stand of 57 as the Guyanese made light work of the target.
At the departure of Seecharran, Makai Dowlin joined Ali and they took Guyana to victory with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 54 in just 5.5 overs.
Dowlin was the aggressor, slamming an unbeaten 31 off 15 balls (1x4s, 3x6s), while Ali dropped anchor with an unbeaten 25 off 61 balls (2x4s).
Z’Dari Scantlebury (1-15), Niako Patterson (1-17) and Kijani Inniss (1-20) were the wicket-takers for Barbados.
Earlier, the Bajans benefitted from 37 extras (23 wides), while Natarie Lavine (37), Ky-Mani Inniss (27), Patterson (19), Scantlebury (16) and Jon-David Greene (16) all got starts with the bat.
Bowling for Guyana, Gajnabi (2-33), Dowlin (1-20), Ashton Collins (1-22) and Jasani Craig (1-26) impressed with the ball.
Upcoming games (starting at 10:00h)
- December 14 at Lusignan
- December 16 at Lusignan
- December 17 at Everest
- December 19 at Everest
The post U-13: Seecharran (79) leads Guyana to victory over Barbados in series opener appeared first on News Room Guyana.
