THE Guyana team departed for Jamaica yesterday to challenge for the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) Regional Under-19 Three-Day and One-Day tournaments scheduled to begin tomorrow.

The team, led by Anthony Bramble, is being labelled “the most balanced squad” to have left these shores for quite some time and “great things” are expected of them during their one-month tour.

At a dinner held in their honour last evening at the Water Chris Hotel, manager of the team Alvin Johnson confidently stated that the team will be returning with both trophies on August 6.

Guyana, after finishing second last year, will be going into the tournament with four fast bowlers. Johnson believes that the other teams will be “surprised” especially since they expect Guyana to field a strong repertoire of spinners.

He reflected that for the past few years there were no exceptional spinners and the pacers have been producing the “fire power to dismiss teams twice”.

Guyana’s four-pronged pace attack comes from the fiery Keon Joseph, Ronsford Beaton, Seon Daniels and Andre Stoll while the specialist spinners are Jeetendra Sukhdeo, Totaram Bishun and part-time spinner and stock bowler Anthony Adams.

Guyana, having last won the tournament in 2007, will be looking to return to the top of the Under-19 rank according to host of the evening Public Relations Officer Terry Holder.

The batting lineup remains solid and will be spearheaded by the lone centurion from last year’s tournament, Seon Hetmyer. He will be looking for support from middle order batsman and final year Under-19 player Jonathan Foo, the stylish opener Herell Green, Trevon Griffith and vice-captain Royston Alkins, being the stronghold of the batting.

The squad also has an added incentive to be successful in the coming weeks when an undertaking was made to host a victory reception at the Regency Hotel by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) on their arrival.

Plant Manager of TCL in Guyana, Mark Bender, stated in his brief remarks that there cannot be progress without support and therefore the company has fulfilled a promise it made a few years ago to continue sponsorship.

“Our (TCL) support has never wavered despite the global economic financial downturn the businesses around the world are experiencing,” Bender explained.

Acting president of the GCB, Faizal Bacchus, implored the youths to be good ambassadors of the country especially since Guyana has a proud reputation of always being the most disciplined team at tournaments. He said that the team must strive to do better than last year more so since Guyana have won 12 titles at the level.

Guyana squad: Anthony Bramble (captain), Royston Alkins, Herell Green, Seon Hetmyer, Jonathan Foo, Alex Amsterdam, Trevon Griffith, Jeetendra Sukhdeo, Totaram Bishun, Ronsford Beaton, Anthony Adams, Seon Daniels, Andre Stoll and Keon Joseph.

Coach: Hubern Evans and Manager Alvin Johnson.