… believes Chanderpaul’s inclusion is a bonus
HAVING led his team to a seven-wicket victory over their nemesis Cellink Berbice in their preliminary round match of this year’s Guyana Cricket Board/El Dorado limited overs tournament, Demerara skipper Leon Johnson is hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow.
When they met in the first round at the Everest Cricket Club ground, Demerara restricted their opponents to 127 thanks to Amir Khan’s three wickets while Kellon Carmichael and Totaram Bishun took two wickets each.
Johnson, who plays for Georgetown Cricket Club, led his team home with close to 18 overs to spare, having struck an unbeaten 43, after they lost openers Trevon Griffith and Shemroy Barrington along with the left-handed Gajanand Singh.
His side will face the same opponent in the final match at the Albion Community Centre ground from 09:00hrs, with Johnson being aware of the Ancient County’s ability to rebound and take the honours when it matters.
Having expressed such, Johnson believes the inclusion of Guyana and West Indies left-handed middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who holds a number of batting records in international cricket, including the one for the batsman to face 1 000 consecutive deliveries without being dismissed, in the Demerara lineup is a bonus to the team.
“We are a very confident unit going into this match, not because we defeated them in the preliminary rounds, but because we want to go there and stop their winning ways and it would be nice to do so in front of their home crowd.
“We know that they have rebounded from preliminary-rounds defeat in the past to win the tournament, but as long as we do not exercise complacency, I know for a fact we can repeat the preliminary-round performance and come away victorious.”
The 24-year-old Johnson, who led the West Indies Under-19 side at the 2006 Youth World Cup, believes that even though his unit is a youthful one (minus Chanderpaul), they can still pose a serious threat to the defending champions tomorrow.
“We have a very young team. Players who are hungry for success and as I said before, how wonderful it would be for us to defeat them in front of their home crowd on Sunday (tomorrow) and bring the trophy back to Demerara.
“When we faced them in the preliminary rounds, we did so minus Shiv who has 17 years of international cricket experience under his belt and, with his inclusion, the younger guys can not only learn something but also feed off his experience on the field,” said Johnson.
Despite some brief showers during the course of yesterday morning, the Demerara team wrapped up their preparations at the Demerara Cricket Club ground under coach Orin Bailey and the camaraderie displayed was highlighted by Johnson.
Asked to highlight a specific player or players in the Ancient County team who he feels can be a serious threat to his side completing the victory, Johnson was not hesitant in doing so, saying the entire team is a threat.
“This is cricket we are talking about and on any given day, one of their players can turn up and put in a creditable performance for them. They have players who have played at the highest level before, while some have represented Guyana.
But as I said, as long as we remain competitive and do not exercise complacency, certainly we can come away with the win. The key for us is to remain focused for the entire 100 overs of the match and do not allow complacency to step in, and once we do that, victory will be ours,” said Johnson.
Touching on his present form with the bat, where he came off a ton for his club who won the Georgetown Cricket Association-organised Queensway Open Cup tournament two Sundays ago, Johnson said he is feeling great and can hardly wait to stroll to the middle for tomorrow’s encounter.
“No one can say what will happen until it happens. When we go there, I have no idea what target I want to set for them or what score we will bowl them out for, as we will have to have a look at the wicket.
However, I am feeling great when it comes to my batting and along with Shiv, Gajanand Singh and even young Trevon Griffith and Shemroy Barrington showing great form as well, we can set them a target within the region of 275, but like I said, it all has to do with the wicket.”