… Guyana returns home at the bottom of the table 
THERE have been four completed rounds in the 2010 West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)-sponsored President’s Cup four-day competition and the Sewnarine Chattergoon-led Guyana side have only managed to accumulate seven points from their three matches.

Flashback! All-rounder Christopher Barnwell sends down one of his thunderbolt deliveries against the Combined Campuses and Colleges at the 3Ws Oval, Cave Hill, Barbados, last Sunday. (Photo by Calvin Roberts)

Having drawn a first round bye, the team from the Land of Many Waters who had undergone four weeks of intense training prior to their departure were held to a draw by Trinidad and Tobago in their first match of the tournament, which was played under the lights with pink balls for the first time in the Caribbean.

In that game, prolific middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine struck an unbeaten ton, the lone one to date for Guyana and looked set to steer the team to a come-from-behind victory, until a negative bowling attack by the Twin Island Republic team, prevented that from occurring.

For both Chattergoon and coach Ravindranauth Seeram, that was a positive start to the season, until the game against Jamaica at the Foursquare ground in St Phillip, Barbados, where they went down by an innings.

Batting was and continued to be the downfall in that match as well as the following game against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), who defeated Guyana for the second time at the 3Ws Oval, by five wickets with a day to spare, with Seeram calling on his charges to concentrate more.

Apart from Deonarine’s ton, Guyana’s best score with the bat came from Royston Crandon who struck 94 in the first innings against CCC, while Chattergoon’s 73 in the second innings against T&T, Rajendra Chandrika’s first-innings 65 and Assad Fudadin’s second-innings 54 against Jamaica are the lone scores past 50.

Twice Esaun Crandon stepped up to the plate with his 40 and unbeaten 48 respectively scored against T&T and CCC, while Veerasammy Permaul showed he was no rabbit with the bat, with his resilient 42 against Jamaica.

But with a batting lineup that is missing Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan through injury, and Deonarine and Travis Dowlin on West Indies duty, starts were made but finishes were definitely missing from those who remained.

Both Chattergoon and Chandrika need to assert themselves at the top of the order, while the talented but temperamental Christopher Barnwell, who has been in good knick for Demerara Cricket Club prior to joining the squad in Barbados for the CCC match, needs to select and execute his shots more carefully.

Fudadin is the in-form batsman in the starting eleven at the moment, with Gajanand Singh being the other in-form batsman, but the former has been gifting his wicket away with some reckless shots, while in the second innings against CCC, he was unfortunate to be given out caught off his thigh pad.

Royston Crandon struck a debut century for Guyana and followed it with another against Barbados in this same tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, last year, but like the others before him, poor shot selection cost him his wicket against CCC when well set in the first innings, while he did not score in the second.

If anyone can put his hand up and say ‘count me’, it is Esaun Crandon.

In his five innings to date, he has displayed the ability to buckle down and bat, taking on the responsibility of all-rounder in the side and his partnership with his brother Royston in the first innings against CCC was proof of that.

Make no bones about it, Derwin Christian can put down his head and bat when he wants to, but there is something about him, which sees him getting a rush of blood and playing all sorts of shots to one ball and for his years in the team, he needs to buckle down and display a level of maturity.

Apart from the batting, Seeram, Chattergoon and the selection panel need to take a closer look at Guyana’s bowling attack, which looks ordinary and seems to be going through the motion at times.

West Indies ‘A’ team fast bowler Brandon Bess is undoubtedly the fastest bowler in Guyana, but while we may be looking at pace, line and length, keeping the front foot behind the popping crease must be important.

Prior to the team’s departure, there were two practice matches at the Police Sports Club (PSC) and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) grounds. In the former game, Bess alone bowled all the no-balls by the team, 23 in total.

When questioned on same, Seeram said he was asked to bowl fast and while they have been seeing that, their next job is to work on the no-ball problem, but apparently the result has not been successful as he was plagued by same against CCC, even though he took six wickets in the match.

Esaun Crandon has been his usual economical self with the new ball, while Barnwell, who was probably forgotten by Chattergoon and was under-bowled against CCC, emulated Crandon in CCC’s second innings when they needed 195 to win.

Apart from Bess, another question mark now lingers over the spin department which is being led by Permaul and Devendra
Bishoo, two young spinners who are tasked with executing and continuing along the same ranks as Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil McGarrell.

While blooding young guns for the future is not a bad initiative, it was 100% unwise to do away with not only Nagamootoo and McGarrell, but also Reon King at a time when Colin Stuart opted to take a sabbatical from the game, to further himself academically. Bess’ average is 50 runs per wicket.

Permaul has so far taken 13 wickets in the three games to date while Bishoo has two, with Deonarine offering more assistance to Permaul in the spin department prior to his departure for Australia, taking six wickets.

With Barbados who are second in the points table behind leaders and defending champions Jamaica set to face us in our next encounter at the Albion Community Centre ground next weekend, something has to give, if we are looking to at least finish amongst the top four, seeing that the possibility of coming away with the title is no more.

Seeram called on his players to concentrate more, something his predecessor Albert Smith was clamoring for before he was axed, but concentration is just one ingredient missing from the pot of success.

Bess, Permaul and Bishoo have displayed the ability to take wickets, but not at regular intervals and this should be an area of concern for Seeram to look into immediately, while the support bowlers in Barnwell and company need to be more penetrative.