A magnificent 158 off 85 balls from National U17 batter, Jonathan Van Lange took Demerara to a 202 run victory over Essequibo at Everest today.
In beautiful sunshine, Demerara U17 won the toss and chose to bat. The openers, Vikash Wilkinson (34) and Deonarine Dindyal (17) laid a solid platform with a partnership of 46. They then lost 5 quick wickets to slump to 60-5.
Van Lange was joined by Nityanand Mathura and they immediately placed the pressure back unto the Essequibo bowlers putting up a partnership of 98 off 94 balls before Mathura was caught off the bowling of Morris for 25. Van Lange changed gears at that point and went berserk on the Essequibo bowlers. The small crowd at Everest were treated to some entertainment as Van Lange peppered the long-on boundary hitting sixes at will. His innings included 4 fours and 17 massive sixes. He was finally out caught off the last ball of the innings for a well-played 158. Demerara finished on 272-9 off their allocated overs. Gulcharran Chulai finished with 3 wickets and only conceded 11 off his 10 overs including 5 maidens.
Essequibo, in reply, were under early pressure as they lost 4 wickets within the first 10 overs with only 16 on the board. A fighting partnership of 27 between Govin Persaud and Benny Persaud briefly held off the Demerara bowlers but they were eventually bowled out for 70.
The GCB Under-17 Inter-County Super50 Tournament will continue tomorrow with Demerara playing GCB Select XI at Everest from 09:30 hrs.
Scores:
Demerara U17 272-9 from 50 overs
Van Lange 158(85), Wilkinson 34(66), Mathura 25(50)
Chulai 3-11 (10), Mohamed 2-34 (10), Morris 2-17 (2)
Essequibo U17 70 All Out from 32.2 overs
G Persaud 17(21), B Persaud 16(83), De Mattos 10(23)
Van Lange 2-5 (5), Prince 2-10 (5), Mathura 2-11 (5.2), Sankar 2-15 (8)