JUDGING from their performances in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board’s Regional 4-Day tournament, the Shivnarine Chanderpaul-led Guyana national cricket team will fancy their chances when they face Jamaica in a semi-final encounter at Sabina Park from Friday. The team left yesterday afternoon for Jamaica and West Indies cricket fans everywhere welcome the return to form of discarded West Indies middle-order batsman Narsingh Deonarine, who is also  the regional run-scoring leader with 547 runs at an average of 49.72 with 6 half-centuries.
Berbice skipper Assad Fudadin occupies the second position behind Deonarine with 538 runs at an average of 53.80, inclusive of two centuries the last of which saved Guyana’s rain-ruined encounter against Trinidad and Tobago in their last match.
Georgetown Cricket Club’s Leon Johnson has the next best aggregate for the Guyanese with 309 runs including three half-centuries at an average of 26.09, while Chanderpaul’s stunning average of 219.00 reflects his ability to bat for long periods.
Shiv has scored 219 runs from his two matches, including an unbeaten 125 against Barbados, followed by his 80 which was scored in his team’s first innings against the Trinidadians in the following round.
However, the Guyanese will face the table-topping Jamaicans without the services of discarded West Indies middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan who is fulfilling his contractual obligations with English County team Leicestershire.
Sarwan is replaced by West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo, who was with the West Indies squad during their just concluded one-day international series against Australia.
Deonarine has been turning heads with the ball in Guyana’s final two preliminary round matches, on his way to picking up 16 wickets at an average of 17.75, with his best being 7 for 26 against Barbados.
West Indies ‘A’ team skipper and vice-captain of the team, Veerasammy Permaul, is the leading wicket-taker for Guyana with 28 victims at an average of 21.78, including best figures of 6 for 91 against the Windward Islands in the second round.
Like Deonarine, Bishoo who watched his teammates decimate the Barbadians at Kensington Oval, also claimed 16 wickets from three matches at an average of 20.93, including a best of 5 for 115 against Jamaica.
Several other players, such as Christopher Barnwell who took 6 for 78 against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) when Guyana recorded a historic win over that team, Derwin Christian and Brandon Bess have contributed to Guyana’s success so far in the tournament.
Ronsford Beaton offered tremendous support to Deonarine with the ball when Barbados catapulted for a record low 58, as Guyana claimed her third win from five matches.
Coach Esaun Crandon was smiling broadly following the comprehensive and emphatic victory over Barbados. That smile must have became broader, when the Barbadians humiliated the Windward Islands inside two days in their final preliminary round matchup.
Not only did that win hand the team from the Land of the Flying Fish a place in the semifinals, but also secured Guyana’s spot in that stage of the tournament, as a Windward Islands victory would have handed both teams a semifinal spot.
The Guyana team heading to Jamaica under Crandon, his assistant David Harper and manager David Black reads: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Veerasammy Permaul, Trevon Griffith, Leon Johnson, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Royston Crandon, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Derwin Christian, Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton and Brandon Bess.