Cellink Berbice favoured against Rest Team in final tonight
… Sarwan back for Demerara in third-place matchup
DEFENDING champions and tournament favourites Cellink Berbice will face the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Rest Team in the final of this year’s GCB/Carib Beer/Pepsi four-team Twenty20 tournament at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, tonight weather permitting.
Demerara face Essequibo in the third place clash, with inspirational skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan back at the helm for Demerara who find themselves in this spot for the first time in a very long time.
No doubt, Cellink Berbice who are being led by West Indies ‘A’ middle order batsman Assad Fudadin along with 10 other players who represented Guyana at first class level, will go into tonight’s encounter as the firm favourites to cart off the title.
Fudadin can expect amicable support from Richard Ramdeen, Sewnarine Chattergoon, his deputy Royston Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Caribbean’s latest batting sensation Jonathan Foo, national all-rounder Esaun Crandon and wicketkeeper Delbert Hicks.
Their bowling will be led by Deonarine who took a hat-trick and a five-wicket haul against Demerara and Essequibo respectively, Brandon Bess, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Keon Joseph and the Crandon siblings in Esaun and Royston.
Their opponents, made up of players who found it difficult to make their Inter-county squad, displayed unity in their two matches that were completed in the tournament against Essequibo and Demerara, in which they came out on top.
Skipper Gajanand Singh and his deputy Dion Ferrier has been leading from the front and with players in the calibre of Shemroy Barrington, Vishal Singh, Trevon Griffith, Andrew Lyght Jr, Eugene La Fleur and Anthony Bramble in their lineup, certainly they can pose a threat to Cellink Berbice tonight.
Their bowling is the weakest link in their chain, led by Kellon Carmichael with support from Ferrier, Krisendat Ramoo, Griffith, La Fleur and Gajanand Singh, but what they do have is togetherness and unity – two key ingredients that saw them defeat a powerful Demerara batting lineup.
Essequibo have always been known as the minnows in local Inter-county cricket, but certainly they must be having a bright smile on their faces, knowing that their opponents for today’s third place clash Demerara have undergone humiliating defeats to both the Rest Team and Cellink Berbice.
What should be of concern to coach Forbes Sampson and skipper Royan Fredericks, is the all-too-familiar batting collapse of their teams when well set for a decent total.
Against the defending champions, Fredericks and his brother Norwayne added 72 for the first wicket, yet Essequibo were restricted to 103 at the end of their 20 overs, thanks to the bowling of Deonarine who snared 5-19.
Their preliminary round encounter against Demerara on Sunday was washed out and what needs to be done today for the Cinderella County team is the selection of the right 11 to face Demerara, whose confidence will be boosted with the return of Sarwan and off-spinning all-rounder Lennox Cush.
Apart from the Fredericks siblings, the Essequibo batting lineup consists of Kenzo Baksh, Oyano Sampson, brothers Dillon and Jason Heyliger, Ricardo and Anthony Adams (no relation), Robert Moore and Sherwin Murray.
Rayon Thomas returned from the wilderness to bowl with control and authority on his way to picking up four wickets against the Rest Team and with Ronsford Beaton, Moore, Murray, Dillon and Jason Heyliger and Royan Fredericks, all useful customers with the ball, it all buckles down to the selection of the right unit to help the team take third place.
Apart from Sarwan and Cush, Demerara’s lineup includes Travis Dowlin, Christopher Barnwell, Steven Jacobs and Derwin Christian who were all members of Guyana’s T20 team which competed in the Airtel Champions League in South Africa earlier this year.
Also in the Demerara lineup are Essequibo’s prodigal son Trevon Garraway, the vast-improving Andre Stoll, Zaheer Mohammed and the left-handed Leon Johnson who stood in as leader of the team in the absence of Sarwan.
Sarwan can also call on the services of the hard-hitting Jamal Hinckson and David Dick, who was preferred ahead of Police Sports Club’s Rawle Browne after Shawn De Souza took ill. In his bowling cupboard, he can pull national Under-19 right-arm leg-spinner Amir Khan to turn a few tricks against the Cinderella County.
Action in Demerara/Essequibo fixture gets under way at 15:00 h, with Colin Alfred and Dhieranidranauth Somwaru being the men in charge while Guyana’s top two umpires in Clyde Duncan and Nigel Duguid will officiate in the Cellink Berbice/Rest Team matchup which bowls off at 19:00 h.