Confident Developmental XI face Demerara
… Second round action bowls off today

BUOYED by their six-wicket victory over Essequibo in the first round, a confident Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Developmental XI, led by national all-rounder Steven Jacobs, will face Demerara in one of two second-round matches of this year’s GCB senior Inter-county four-day tournament which bowls off today.

This contest will take place at the Everest Cricket Club ground, while in the other contest, Berbice and perennial whipping boys Essequibo, will go head-to-head at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground. Both matches bowl off at 09:30hrs each day.
At Everest, the Developmental XI, who came under some questionable umpiring decisions against Essequibo in their first innings, will be looking to West Indies Under-19 openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer to give them a solid start with the bat, reminiscence of their second-innings performance against the Cinderella County boys, when chasing 268 for victory.
The middle order will be bolstered by Jacobs, Chandrapaul Hemraj, David Latchaya, Yatesh Dhanpaul, the vastly improving Kemo Paul and Kemol Savory, while Kellon Carmichael, Steven Sankar and Niall Smith will bolster the lower order, if the management decides to go with the same 11 for this match.
Yes, Demerara have three of the four centurions from their first-round matchup against Berbice within their ranks, but once Jacobs can get his boys to bowl a tidy line and length and reduce the free-scoring ability of the Garvin Nedd-coached Demerara lineup, then this contest can be an interesting one.
Carmichael will be expected to share the new ball with either Smith or Paul in windy conditions, taking the sheen off same for Jacobs, Dhanpaul and Sankar to do their magic with spin, especially on a track that offers assistance to spin bowling.
Nevertheless, the Vishal Singh-led Demerara unit will look to the skipper, first-round double centurion in opener Rajendra Chandrika and national opener Trevon Griffith, their three centurions, backed by Christopher Barnwell, Shemroy Barrington, Robin Bacchus, Zaheer Mohammed and Joseph Perry, to post a good total if asked to bat first.
Their bowlers will be led by Barnwell and Paul Wintz, while Bacchus, Mohammed, Amir Khan, Raj Nannan and to a lesser extent Griffith, can lend valuable support in the bowling department.
At DCC, the Ancient County will be forced to make changes to their lineup, as national all-rounder Royston Crandon, who was embroiled in an on-field altercation with Barrington in the first round, has been handed a one-match suspension by the Disciplinary Committee of the GCB.
Apart from that, Devon Clements and Jason Sinclair both failed with the bat, as Jonathan Foo’s miserable run continues while Kandasammy Surujnarine, who was involved in a match-saving 163-run fourth-wicket partnership with Crandon, finished unbeaten on 132 to become the fourth centurion.
Anthony Bramble, skipper Narsingh Deonarine, Herman Latcha, Veerasammy Permaul and Keon Joseph who batted wisely and cautiously during his 69-run third-wicket partnership with Surujnarine on the final morning, will all lend support with the bat.
In Joseph and Raun Johnson, Berbice have the best new-ball pair in the country, with backings coming from Romario Shepherd-DeJonge, who should be having a run at the Essequibians – a team that is susceptible to fast bowling.
Permaul, Deonarine, Latcha and former West Indies Under-19 left-arm orthodox spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, will take charge of the spin bowling department with support from Clements and Foo, if selected.
There is no doubt that when it comes to the possession of a strong mental fortitude, skipper Anthony Adams stands head and shoulders above his teammates in the Vibert Johnson-coached Essequibo lineup.
Year after year, he has led their bowling without much of a frown, even when the national selectors continue to bypass him and this year, he finished the limited overs version of the tournament with 11 wickets, having taken 5 against Demerara who won their first-round contest by the skin of their teeth, four against the Under-19s and two against Berbice.
Yet, he was bypassed for the best bowler award, an obvious mistake acknowledged by those in authority, while in his side’s first-round game against the Developmental XI, he ended with eight wickets, after taking 7 for 34 in the first innings that routed the opposition for 128.
With such attributes, openers Kevon Boodie and Royan Fredericks, along with Ricardo Peters, Ricardo Adams, Mark Gonsalves, Parmesh Parsotam and Shivendra Hemraj, will need to come good with the bat against Berbice and post an insurmountable total – one that will enable Mark Tyrell, Brian Herbert, Hemchand Persaud, Anthony Adams and Fredericks to bowl at, if they intend to have their team produce a much better showing, in comparison to what was seen in the second innings of their first-round game against the Developmental XI.

(By Calvin Roberts)