… Jacobs to lead GCB Development squad

HAVING completed their limited overs version last Saturday, in which Berbice came out on top over their nemesis Demerara, the four-day version of this year’s Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior men Inter-County competition is set to bowl off on Thursday with two first–round matches at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) and the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) grounds.In the first round, 50-Over champions Berbice will clash with Demerara at GCC while Essequibo will meet the GCB Development Squad at DCC, with Essequibo and Berbice doing battle at DCC in the second round from September 24 to 27, which will also see the GCB Development Squad come up against Demerara at the Everest Cricket Club ground.
The third and final round will get under way on September 30 and run until October 3, wherein the GCB Development Squad will do battle with Berbice at the Wales Community Centre ground and Demerara and Essequibo will meet at GCC. All matches bowl off at 09:30hrs each day unless stipulated otherwise by the match referee, in the event of rain.
Meanwhile, former Guyana and West Indies Under-19 skipper Steven Jacobs has been entrusted with the captaincy of the GCB Development Squad, which competed in the limited overs version of the Inter-county tournament as the National Under-19 unit.
While several players, including historic-winning Under-19 skipper Brian Sattaur, first class openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer, spin twins Balchand Baldeo and Shiraz Ramcharran have been retained, only one player who was a member of Sattaur’s unit when Guyana completed the Regional youth double last month was axed.
That player is Akil Wallace of Essequibo, while David Latchaya, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Daniel Basdeo and Yatesh Dhanpaul join Jacobs in the squad, which will be coached by Adrian Amsterdam and his two assistant coaches Michael Franco-Hyles and Julian Moore.
Berbice also made changes to their Narsingh Deonarine-led lineup, including Royston Crandon and Steven Latcha at the expense of Krishendat Ramoo and Rajiv Ivan, while for Demerara, Vishal ‘Cheesy’ Singh has been handed the captaincy with Christopher Barnwell as his deputy.
Andrew Lyght Jr is the lone casualty from the side even though Jacobs, Hemraj and Dhanpaul have been transferred to the GCB Developmental Squad, with the new faces being Singh, Randolph Knights, Gavin Moriah and Joseph Perry.
The squads are as follow:

Demerara: Trevon Griffith, Rajendra Chandrika, Shemroy Barrington, Christopher Barnwell (v-captain), Raj Nannan, Zaheer Mohamed, Ameer Khan, Randolph Knights, Paul Wintz, Seon Daniels, Vishal Singh (captain), Gavin Moriah, Joseph Perry, and Robin Bacchus. The coach is Garvin Nedd and the manager is Clive Grimmond.
Berbice: Kandasammy Surujnarine, Seon Hetmyer, Narsingh Deonarine (captain), Devon Clements, Royston Crandon, Jonathan Foo, Anthony Bramble, Jason Sinclair, Veerasammy Permaul (v-captain), Steven Latcha, Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd, Raun Johnson, and Keon Joseph. The coach is Hubern Evans and the manager is Albert Smith

Essequibo: Anthony Adams (captain), Ricardo Adams (v-captain), Royan Fredericks, Kevon Boodie, Royston Alkins Hemchand Persaud, Parmesh Parsotam, Tulsieram Premnauth, Shivindra Hemraj, Keon Davis, Brian Herbert, Mark Gonsalves, Mark Tyrell, and Ricardo Peters. The coach is Vibert Johnson and the manager is Leroy Hall.
GCB Development Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Shimron Hetmyer, Kemo Paul, Shiraz Ramcharran, Akshay Homraj, David Latchaya, Damion Waldron, Steven Sankar, Daniel Basdeo, Nial Smith, Keon Morris, Steven Jacobs (captain), Kemol Savory, Yatesh Dhanpaul, Brian Sattaur, Balchand Baldeo, Renaldo Ali-Mohamed. The coach is Adrian Amsterdam, assistant coaches are Julian Moore and Michael Hyles, and the manager is David Black.