Defending champions Berbice face Essequibo today
DEFENDING champions Berbice open their bid to retain their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised, GTM-sponsored Under-19 Inter-county three-day title, when they face perennial whipping boys Essequibo over the next three days at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground.
The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) has named a strong 14-man team to defend the Inter-county three-day title, after their junior selection panel, led by Leslie Solomon, last weekend declared a 20-man squad from which the team was selected after a one-week practice and training session under the eyes of national junior coach Hubern Evans and his team.
Former national Under-15 player Harrinarine Chattergoon, the brother of discarded West Indies opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, will lead the team with Joemal La Fleur as his deputy.
In-form opener Dominic Rickey, who recently led his team Rose Hall Town Pepsi A to a comfortable victory over Whim National in the BCB/Spready’s Bakery Under-19 competition, will open the batting with Chattergoon with support in the middle coming from La Fleur.
Raffel Estriado, Clinton Pestano, Jamally Odle, Sherwin McPherson and all-rounders Lloydel Lewis and Mark Lionel are all capable batsmen in the lineup while Albion Sports Club’s first division wicketkeeper Andy Mohan, who is being tasked with executing duties behind the stumps, can also weigh in heavily with the bat.
West Indies Under-19 fast bowler Keon Joseph who had a miserable first class debut in Guyana’s final game of this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)-sponsored President’s Cup match against the Windward Islands, would spearhead the bowling attack.
He will receive good support from his Achievers Youth and Sports Club teammate Ron Johnson and Pestano while the spin department would be taken care of by off-spinners Lloydel Lewis and Sherwin McPherson.
National Under-15 captain and leg-spinner Shawn Pereira, Mark Lionel, Chattergoon, Rickey and La Fleur are all capable spinners who would be lending support to Lewis and McPherson against a team who suffered an innings and 24-run defeat inside two days against Demerara.
While it has not been confirmed, Chronicle Sport was reliably informed of a few changes in the Essequibo lineup, with national Under-15 vice-captain Anthony Adams being one of them.
Such a move would definitely add stability to an already brittle middle order batting lineup that was exposed by right-arm leg- spinner Amir Khan en route to his maiden 10-wicket haul at this level.
No doubt, manager Alvin Johnson would be asking his charges to be more competitive against a much stronger opponent who had been preparing for such a competition with various matches since early February.
Skipper Herell Greene and his opening partner Vijay Surajpaul had a solid-looking 43-run opening partnership against Demerara in the first innings, but the introduction of Khan and his Everest Cricket Club spin twin Christopher Surat, drove the nail in all the correct areas of Essequibo’s batting coffin.
Ravendra Mohabir, Keron McLennon, Neil Ramalho and Anthony Adams are useful middle order batsmen, but they found it difficult to get into their groove on an Uitvlugt Community Centre wicket that any spinner around the world would wish to walk with in his or her pocket and how they fare against Berbice is left to be seen.
National Under-19 fast bowler Ronsford Beaton tried his best with the two early wickets, but the lack of support at the other end allowed first Kwame Crosse and Arif Habib to repair the damage before Andre Stoll had the liberty to throw his bat and record a 64-ball half-century.
Fast bowler Kevin Fredericks and spinners Tulsiram Premnauth and Mohabir who had a no-ball problem, would definitely need to walk with their A game today if Essequibo, who are known to play competitive cricket for one half of any game, intend to do so over the next three days.
Teams for the match will be chosen from:
Berbice from: Harrinarine Chattergoon, Dominic Rickey, Raffel Estriado, Joemal La Fleur, Clinton Pestano, Jamally Odle, Sherwin McPherson, Mark Lionel, Andy Mohan, Lloydel Lewis, Keon Joseph, Raun Johnson, Shawn Pereira and Andrew Dennis. The coach is Hubern Evans while Julian Cambridge will execute the duties of manager.
Essequibo from: Herell Greene, Vijay Surajpaul, Ricardo Adams, Ravendra Mohabir, Keron McLennon, Neil Ramalho, Kevin Boodie, Anthony Adams, Ronsford Beaton, Kevin Fredericks, Mark Tyrell, Tulsiram Premnauth, Nokta Moses, Sean Venture and Vishnu Murray. The coach is Vibert Johnson while his brother Alvin Johnson would perform the duties of manager.
The action gets under way at 10:00 h.