… Sarwan named captain
OUT-of-favour West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan has been named captain of the Guyana team to contest the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board Regional four-day competition, which bowls off next weekend.
The Interim Management Committee (IMC), which is chaired by former Guyana and West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd, last night released a 30-man squad who will commence preparation for the tournament, with the shortlisted players being asked to assemble at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport this afternoon.
Apart from Sarwan, who, along with Assad Fudadin and Jonathan Foo, was overlooked for the just concluded WICB Caribbean T20 tournament, which saw Guyana for the second successive year fail to make the final four, Devendra Bishoo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are also in the squad.
Trevon Griffith, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine, Leon Johnson, National T20 skipper Christopher Barnwell, Steven Jacobs, Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Ronsford Beaton and Veerasammy Permaul who were all members of the T20 team, are also included in the 30-man squad.
Former national Under-19 batsman Gajanand Singh who was once arguably the best youth batsman in Guyana, Chandrapaul Hemraj, the man who now wears that tag, Amir Khan, Clinton Pestano, Paul Wintz, Vishal Singh and Raj Nanan have all found favour with the IMC’s selection panel.
According to the WICB schedule, Guyana will play their first four matches at the Guyana National Stadium, which is the venue chosen to host all the matches, and will oppose the Leeward Islands in the first round from February 3 to 6.
Matches against the Windward Islands, Combined Campuses and Colleges and Jamaica follow in that order: February 10 – `13, 17 – 20 and 24 – 27 respectively, before the Guyanese players journey to Barbados to oppose the home team at the Kensington Oval March 9 – 12.
Their final preliminary round match would see them face reigning T20 champions Trinidad and Tobago at the Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, March 16 – 19 with the semifinals and final being their next stop at venues to be named, should they qualify to contest same.
The 30-man squad reads: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Rajendra Chandrika, Veerasammy Permaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Brandon Bess, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ronsford Beaton, Trevon Griffith, Totaram Bishun, Narsingh Deonarine, Amir Khan, Leon Johnson, Steven Jacobs, Assad Fudadin, Clinton Pestano, Christopher Barnwell, Raj Nanan, Royston Crandon, Eugene La Fleur, Gajanand Singh, Paul Wintz, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Keon Joseph, Derwin Christian, Zaheer Mohamed, Vishal Singh, Richard Ramdeen, Anthony Bramble and Shemroy  Barrington.
Carl Moore and Mark Harper return as manager and coach of the team respectively, while Rabindranauth Seeram who was in charge of the coaching staff for the CT20, has been appointed Harper’s assistant for the four-day championship.