FOLLOWING their comprehensive loss to defending champions Trinidad and Tobago in their last match, two-time Caribbean T20 champions Guyana will be looking for a semifinal spot when they oppose Canada at the Kensington Oval, this afternoon from 16:00hrs. The Christopher Barnwell-led 14-man squad which also includes dependable West Indies left-handed batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, had a close-to-three-hours net session at the venue, under the watchful eyes of coaches Ravindranauth Seeram and Rayon Griffith.
Guyana have four points from the two matches they have played, with a net run rate of -0.302 while Canada are yet to score any points, having lost both of their matches and have a net run rate of -1.917.
Trinidad and Tobago lead the group with 8 points and a net run rate of +3.008 after rebounding from their first round loss to the Windward Islands who are second with the same number of points and a net run rate of +0.933.
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, Barnwell said his team is in a very upbeat mood despite the loss, while he declined to say if any changes will be made to the team for today’s encounter, which is a must-win situation for the inaugural champions of this tournament.
“We have not thought much about any changes for the game tomorrow, but will be doing so at our team meeting later in the day or early in the morning and see what’s the best possible eleven we will play in this game,” stated Barnwell.
Asked to comment on his team’s chances of advancing to the final four, something they failed to do last year, having won the tournament the previous year, Barnwell said there is a 50/50 chance of Guyana reaching that stage of the competition, a thought echoed by West Indies leg- spinner Devendra Bishoo earlier on.
“We still have a 50/50 chance of advancing to the semifinals. All it takes is a good game of cricket and we have to do so against Canada.  Hopefully, once we do so we can win by a handsome margin and that will help boost our net run rate.
The batting department needs to put up some big totals, especially after such a wonderful game against the Leeward Islands.
We suffered a batting collapse against Trinidad in the second game, but the guys are feeling confident, especially after our net sessions both in Antigua and here in Barbados after the loss to Trinidad,” stated Barnwell.
The 25-year-old West Indies T20 all-rounder said Guyanese cricket fans both at home and in Barbados, can expect a much better batting performance in today’s game, since his side is looking to post a bigger total in order to complete a commanding and comfortable victory.
“Even if we bowl first, our aim is to go out there and restrict them to a small total and knock it off as quickly as possible, since this will help boost our net run rate too.
Generally speaking, we know what needs to be done and the guys are aware of the job that is at hand, the camaraderie in the camp is great, with everyone displaying a high level of confidence heading into the game tomorrow and, with that in mind, I know we will pull off the win and stake our semifinal claims from there,” opined Barnwell.
Trevon Griffith and Sewnarine Chattergoon had a wonderful start against the defending champions, before the Guyanese suffered a middle-order collapse and, barring any injuries, the pair can be expected to start their team’s innings against the Canadians.
Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Barnwell and Leon Johnson are expected to follow in that order, with Deonarine, whose average in T20 cricket reads 26.14 from 13 matches and is only bettered by Johnson’s 38.00 from two matches. They are the men to watch for today’s encounter.
Steven Jacobs and Derwin Christian are useful players with the bat and if Guyana make any changes for today’s game, one may see either Rajiv Ivan or Dillon Heyliger making his debut in the place of Jacobs, who had an off-game against Trinidad last Friday.
Guyana’s bowling which is spin-based, will centre on Barnwell with the spin department being taken care of by Bishoo,  Veerasammy Permaul, Crandon, Deonarine and either Jacobs or Ivan, depending on who is chosen for the final 11 this afternoon.
Not much is known about the Canadians who suffered losses in both their matches so far, having been beaten by nine wickets by the Windward Islands and eight wickets by Leewards.
Raza –ur-Rehman, Hamza Tariq, Hiral Patel and Zubin Surkari will lead their batting lineup, while former Guyana fast bowler Jeremy Gordon is expected to lead their bowling line-up, with support from Junaid Siddiqui, Henry Osinde, Rizwan Cheema, Salman Nazar and Manny Aulakh.

Teams
Guyana from: Christopher Barnwell (captain), Trevon Griffith, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Leon Johnson, Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Steven Jacobs, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Dillon Heyliger, Rajiv Ivan and Ronsford Beaton.
Canada from: Jimmy Hansra (Captain), Raza –ur-Rehman, Hamza Tariq, Hiral Patel, Zubin Surkari, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Henry Osinde, Rizwan Cheema, Salman Nazar, Manny Aulakh, Usman Limbada, Ruvindu Gunasekera and Ntish Kumar.
The umpires are Gregory Brathwaite and Joel Wilson, with Clancy Mack doing the television replays, while Ryan Willoughby is the fourth official and former Barbados and West Indies opener Adrian Griffith the match referee.