AFTER close to three weeks of intense preparation under coach Esuan Crandon and his team, Guyana’s CT20 skipper Veerasammy Permaul told

Chronicle Sport, the guys are ready and raring to go, to claim the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) CT20 title which bowled off last night at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
In an invited comment after the brief opening ceremony, in which WICB’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Muirhead said the Region is not short of cricketing talent, the soft spoken Permaul, who made his Test debut late last year, said the camaraderie in the Guyanese camp is a good one, ahead of their first match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) tonight.
“The guys are ready and raring to go in this tournament. However, it is important that we see what happens tonight (last night), especially with the pitch and how it plays, so we can take that into consideration during our game planning for the CCC.
Added to that, whatsoever we do, we have to give 110% in all three departments of the game, batting, bowling and fielding and once we do that, we will come out victorious, even as we take the game one step at a time,” posited Permaul.
The 23 year old West Indies ‘A’ team skipper, whose performance on the field last year has placed him in good stead to earn the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Cricketer of the Year award for 2012, said his teammates and even the manager and coach is confident about the team’s success, a fact highlighted by Alvin Johnson, the team’s manager.
Looking at the inclusion of West Indies middle- order batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan in the squad, Permaul said such is a boost to the team’s batting lineup, while their experience as international players would also serve as a surplus for the team which had a net session at the venue last Saturday.
With players in the calibre of Narsingh Deonarine and Devendra Bishoo, who along with Permaul, Sarwan and Chanderpaul have played Test cricket for the West Indies, along with Christopher Barnwell and Derwin Christian who bring their International T20 experience into the fold, Guyana will start as favourites for tonight’s encounter against a team which has not done so well in this format of the game.
Add the pugnacious Trevon Griffith, who has had experience as an opener with the Sagicor/West Indies High Performance Centre, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs and Leon Johnson to the fray, coupled with the stroke play of Rajiv Ivan, certainly the Guyanese can walk away with another CT20 title.
Add the hard hitting Jonathan Foo-who created a storm in the 2010 edition of the tournament- to the list and the Kyle Corbin led CCC unit which is made up of players attending Universities across the Caribbean would be wondering why their fairy godparent brought them such a New Year’s gift for such a tournament of high esteem.
The Guyanese bowling lineup is a spin based one, with the vast improving Ronsford Beaton, who has impressed Director of Sport Neil Kumar with his pace, and Barnwell –who celebrated his 26th birthday yesterday, will take care of the new ball.
Permaul, Bishoo, Crandon, Jacobs and Deonarine will handle Guyana’s spin department, receiving amicable support from Johnson, Ivan, Foo and Sarwan if possible.
Floyd Reifer and Ryan Austin are the two most experienced players for CCC, having played test cricket for the West Indies, while Ryan Wiggins, Chadwick Walton, Jason Holder and Kevin Mc Clean, all come into this tournament with T20 experience.
Corbin leads a list of eight players who have never played a T20 match for their respective territories, before being selected for the CCC unit this year and while that may be a plus for the Guyanese, they may need to remember that in this form of the game, the team who takes their catches and perform well in the field with bat and ball, excels at the end of the day.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Peter Nero and Jamaica’s Patrick Gustard have been tasked with calling play in this fixture which bowls off at 20:00hrs, with the final 11 for both sides coming from:
Guyana: Veerasammy Permaul, Christopher Barnwell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Trevon Griffith, Narsingh Deonarine, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs, Derwin Christian, Jonathan Foo, Rajiv Ivan, Leon Johnson, Devendra Bishoo and Ronsford Beaton.

CCC from: Kyle Corbin, Ryan Austin, Jason Holder, Kevin Mc Clean, Ryan Wiggins, Floyd Reifer, Chadwick Walton, Sunil Ambris, Derone Davis, Akeem Dewar, Wayne Morgan, Kristopher Ramsarran, Raymon Reifer and Kesrick Williams.