… Demerara, Essequibo clash in opening match from today
CARL Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin all played in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/GTM-sponsored Under-19 Inter- county tournament before going on to represent the West Indies.
Yesterday at a simple ceremony, the 34th annual GCB/GTM Under-19 tournament was launched, with the sponsors pumping over $3.2M into this year’s tournament which gets under way today, with Demerara facing Essequibo at the Uitvlugt Community Centre ground. Long-serving president of the GCB Chetram Singh thanked GTM for maintaining their relationship with the governing body for cricket here in Guyana.
“Thirty-four (34) years of sponsorship is not easy and with the present economical crisis the world is undergoing, I am truly grateful to GTM for this gesture. I don’t say it’s a partnership, but rather a marriage between GTM and the GCB.
This is one of the few marriages the GCB has been involved in with over the years. In fact, this is the longest partnership that has been a fruitful one for us at the GCB, wherein our youth team went on to win the Regional three-day title on 11 occasions, with the limited overs title eluding us and I hope the team will bring that home this year,” said Singh.
Singh further told those gathered at the launching, including secretary of the GCB Anand Sanasie, marketing director Ramsay Ali and vice-president Faizal Bacchus that out of last year’s tournament, two Guyanese, namely Trevon Griffith and Keon Joseph, represented the West Indies at the ICC Youth World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year.
Director of GTM, Beverley Harper, said her company was very proud to be associated with the GCB in this tournament, more so as it involves our youths.
“If we don’t take care of our youths, then we are in trouble as our youths are our future.
We at GTM have always loved cricket. In fact, our directors are such ardent cricket fans that they exchange notes on matches taking place in the cricket world before meetings, and sponsorship of this kind ensures that the game of cricket survives not only in Guyana, but the West Indies on the whole.”
The tournament bowls off today with the first round clash in the three-day format of the game, with Demerara facing Essequibo at the Uitvlugt Community Centre ground from 10:00 h.
Former national Under-17 batsman Herell Greene will lead the Cinderella County team which also includes national Under-19 players, fast bowler Ronsford Beaton and batsman Anthony Adams who will execute the duties of vice-captain in the Alvin Johnson-managed and Vibert Johnson-coached side.
Essequibo has not made any significant impact for the past two decades, even though it possesses the players to do so and with the Johnson brothers being in charge of this unit, certainly Essequibians countrywide would be hoping for a turnaround in fortune, starting with this match.
Demerara will be led by former national Under-17 skipper Dexter Solomon, who will receive support from openers Quincy Ovid-Richardson and Shameer Fazal, middle order batsmen Kwame Crosse, Christopher Surat, Clevon Hyman and Alex Ramalho.
The bowling will be led by national youth fast bowlers Seon Daniels and Andre Stoll, with East Coast’s express train Daryl Ross providing backup in the fast bowling department, while former West Indies Under-15 leg-spinner and vice- captain Amir Khan will lead the spinners with support from Surat, Arif Habib, Raj Nanan and Delroy Charles, who also handles himself well with the bat.