Guyana begin quest for first one-day  title in six years today
ALREADY without the services of dependable West Indies middle order batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, through international duties and injury, host Guyana begin their quest for its first Regional limited overs title, in six years, when they face Windward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence today.
Not since Chanderpaul lifted the inaugural West Indies Cricket Board organized KFC sponsored Regional limited overs trophy in fading light at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground back in 2005, has Guyana won a limited overs title, even though the Sarwan led team won both the Stanford and WICB Caribbean T20 tournaments in their inaugural year.
This year’s Assad Fudadin led lineup may be forced to go on their quest for success, without the services of experienced opener Sewnarine Chattergoon who has not fully recovered from an injured shin and will see his place being taken by the temperamental Essequibo opening batsman Norman Fredericks.
Despite these hiccups, Fudadin is confident the home team which has been in training for the past two weeks under coach Mark Harper will do well, since they are players in the lineup who are capable enough to step up to the plate and fill the void created by the missing players.
The opening partnerships given to the team by Fudadin and young Trevon Griffith during the practice matches meant that this pair will be used to give the Guyanese who will be entering the tournament under the name Amazon Conquerors, a solid start today.
Vice captain Leon Johnson is expected to retain the number three position with Travis Dowlin, Christopher Barnwell, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs and Jonathan Foo following, not necessarily in that order.
West Indies T20 wicketkeeper/batsman Derwin Christian along with West Indies Under-19 right arm leg spinner Amir Khan and either Paul Wintz or Ronsford Beaton, will complete the lineup, leaving Fredericks, Steven Latcha and either Wintz or Beaton to execute the duties of carrying the towel and water.
An area of concern for both Harper and Fudadin, must be the bowling lineup for the host, who are, apart from Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Chattergoon,  will enter the tournament without the services of fast bowler Brandon Bess and spin twins Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo.
Bess and Permaul will be suiting up for the Sagicor High Performance Centre along with another Guyanese Rajendra Chandrika, while Bishoo like Chanderpaul, is on West Indies duties in Bangladesh.
Fudadin is no rabbit with the ball, as he has proven during the four team tournament when he shared the new ball with Keon Joseph for Cellink Berbice and can readily do so along with Barnwell, Beaton and Wintz.
The spin department is being take care of by Khan, with worthy support from Jacobs, Crandon and Johnson or should Harper and Fudadin decide to pull a rabbit out of the hat, then Latcha a former national Under-19 off spinner can get his debut senior cap today.
The Windwards have looked sharp in all departments during their two practice fixtures against joint defending champions Leeward Islands, with Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher two batsmen with West Indies experience in their lineup, recording half centuries.
Skipper Devon Smith will be out to show to  his naysayers that he still has a lot to offer West Indies cricket despite his dismal run against the visiting Pakistan lineup earlier this year, while the feats of Liam Sebastian, Gary Mathurin and Dalton Polius with the bat, cannot go unnoticed.
Nelon Pascal, Dennis George, Xavier Gabriel, Polius, Sebastian and Craig Emmanuel can all handle themselves with the ball for their team which makes today’s fixture, one of two with the other being Barbados versus Sagicor HPC matchup at the Everest Cricket Club ground, an exciting one.
Squads- Guyana from: Assad Fudadin (Captain), Trevon Griffith, Travis Dowlin, Leon Johnson, Christopher Barnwell, Norman Fredericks, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs, Jonathan Foo, Steven Latcha, Derwin Christian, Amir Khan, Paul Wintz and Ronsford Beaton.
Windward Islands from: Devon Smith (Captain), Johnson Charles, Craig Emmanuel, Andre Fletcher, Xavier Gabriel, Denis George, Kevin James, Keddy Lesporis, Gary Mathurin, Nelon Pascal, Kenroy Peters, Dalton Polius, Liam Sebastian, Hyron Shallow.
Admission to both the Everest Cricket Club ground and the National Stadium is free, while the action which bowls off at 09:00hrs will be broadcast live on NCN Radio, thanks to the Barbados based Line and Length Network.