THE RAIN affected three- day trial match organised by the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) and played at the Everest Cricket Club ground between Johnson XI and Barnwell XI, ended in a tame draw yesterday.
Barnwell’s XI, which ended last Thursday’s first day play on 359 for 9 with Christopher Barnwell unbeaten on 105 and Kellon Carmichael 1, had to wait 48 hours before resuming their innings, after overnight and early morning showers prevented any play on the second day, Friday.They pushed their score to 369 from 71.4 overs, before Barnwell was caught by Vishal Singh off Andre Stoll (1 for 69) for 116 which was scored off 94 balls and decorated with seven sixes and five fours, leaving Carmichael unbeaten on 2.
Johnson’s XI got off to a disastrous start, when discarded national opener Shemroy Barrington was adjudged lbw to Carmichael for 3 at 7 for 1, before Ryan Ramdass (23) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (20) pushed the score to 50 for 1.
A double strike by Barnwell (2 for 12), which saw the demise of Ramdass who was caught at the wicket by Kemol Savory and Chanderpaul who offered the Guyana and West Indies T20 all rounder a return catch, left Johnson’s XI shakily placed on 51 for 3.
Former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan and his Georgetown Cricket Club teammate Robin Bacchus posted 52 for the fourth wicket, with Sarwan who started cautiously, beginning to show signs of positiveness with two sixes off Amir Khan and Dennis Legay respectively.
This was coupled with his usual elegant stroke play that garnered three fours for him, before he lost Bacchus, who picked out Trevon Garraway off Khan, while Sarwan himself was caught at slip by Barnwell when he looked to cut a delivery from Yatesh Dhanpaul (1 for 21), at 114 for 5.
Skipper Leon Johnson and Singh pushed that total to 143, before Steven Jacobs, who recently returned from Barbados where he is completing his studies at the Cave Hill, St. Michael based University of the West Indies, produced a beauty of a delivery to account for Johnson who made 21 (2×6, 1×4).
The demise of Shaquille Williams, who was caught off Khan for 11 at 164 for 7, brought an end to the day’s action and the game, with Singh unbeaten on 19, while Barnwell and Khan took 2 wickets each for 12 and 30 runs respectively.
Meanwhile, the DCB Selection panel met immediately after the game to select the Demerara squad which will contest the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) four day competition, battling for supremacy against Berbice, Essequibo and President’s XI when the action bowls off on Thursday.
While the squad was selected but not released due to a full quorum of officials, president of the DCB Rajendra Singh said same will be done during the course of today.
Chronicle Sport did a review of certain players during the Georgetown Cricket Association two day tourney as well as other competitions that were played in the Demerara diaspora and came up with a probable 14 man squad for the four day tournament.
That squad reads: Christopher Barnwell, Leon Johnson, Paul Wintz, Andre Stoll, Kellon Carmichael, Amir Khan, Totaram Bishun, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Derwin Christian, Trevon Griffith, Rajendra Chandrika, Christopher Pattadin, Trevon Garraway and Steven Jacobs.

Written By Calvin Roberts