FOR THE 36th consecutive year, the Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Companies (GTM) in collaboration with the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Under-19 Inter-County Three-Day Competition is set to bowl off today with two matches in the three-day format.

The GTM Group is a leading insurance provider in Guyana and in the Caribbean islands of Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, and was establishment in 1880, while being known for providing solid and reliable insurance service in Guyana and the various Caribbean Islands.
The competition will be contested in a round-robin scenario, and action will be at the Everest Cricket Club, Wales Community Centre, Demerara Cricket Club, Georgetown Cricket Club and the Enmore Community Centre grounds.
Two matches will be played simultaneously in each round and today’s action pits President’s XI going up against GT&T Berbice at Everest while perennial whippings boys Essequibo will face Demerara at Wales, with both matches commencing at 10:00hrs.
Looking ahead to today’s encounter, Demerara, whose lineup includes Brian Sattaur, Andrew Gibson, Dexter George, Bernard Bailey, Devon Lord, Steven Sankar and Kemol Savory (all with first division experience with their respective clubs) hold the advantage against the Essequibians.
National Caribbean T20 selectee Anthony Adams will lead the Cinderella County team, with worthy support from Kemo Paul, Herry Greene, Mark Gonsalves, Andy Dass, Ricardo Peters and Ricardo Peters, in their attempt to emulate their 2008 teammates, who stunned Demerara in that year’s tournament.
There is no doubt that GT&T Berbice have named a squad capable to defend this title, with national Under-19 skipper Shawn Pereira and experienced left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai as his deputy.
Add Shimron Hetmyer, Sharaz Ramcharran, Romario Shepherd-De Jonge, David Latchaya and Shailendra Shameer, who all have vast experience at this and the first division level in Berbice and certainly they can wear the favourite tag for this tournament, alongside Demerara.
But the President’s XI lineup consists of players, who were not eligible for selection on their respective county teams, such as Martin Pestano-Belle, Denesh Mangal, Yenkini Favorite, Arif Chan, Hakeem Hinds, Nial Smith and Ryan Shun, ensuring that GT&T Berbice’s work is cut out for them.
Shannon Crawford and Cyril Garnath are the umpires at Wales, with D. Nagasar as the standby while at Everest, Colin Alfred and Imran Moakan will call play, with Zaheer Mohammed as the standby. Representatives from GTM along with GCB Executives will meet the players competing in the match at Everest at 09:30hrs to mark the opening of the competition.
The members of each team are listed below.
President’s XI team reads: Akshya Persaud (captain), Ryan Shun, Rajiv Balgobin, Asif Alehi, Denesh Mangal, Anthony Bophdeo, Martin Pestano-Bell, Yenkini Favorite, Arif Chan, Hakeem Hinds, Nial Smith, Devon George, Keann Harry, and Akesh Jagroo. The Coach is Adrian Amsterdam and the Manager is David Black.
Demerara team from: Travis Persaud (captain), Brian Sattaur, Chandrika Persaud, Deonarine Seegobin, Andrew Gibson, Kamesh Yadram (v-c), Kemol Savory, Steven Sankar, Devon Lord, Stephon Brown, Dexter George, Bernard Bailey, Kevin Paul, and Shivram Persaud. The Coach is Quason Nedd and the Manager is ‘Pacer’ Adonis.
GT&T Berbice from: Shawn Perreira (captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Nick Ramsaroop, Devin Baldeo, Parmanand Narine, Sharaz Ramcharran, Ashkay Homraj (wkp.), Kevon Jawahir, Derek Narine, David Latchaya, Shailendra Shameer, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Suresh Dhanai, and Romario Shepherd-DeJonge.
Essequibo from: Ricardo Adams, Ricardo Peters, Mark Gonsalves, Herry Greene, Wazim Karoon, Rajiv Balgobin, Paul Williams, Avinash Persaud, Andy Dass, Parmesh Parsram, Kemo Paul, Placid Edwards, Raj Parbattie, Shivindra Hemraj. The standby player is Mohamed Hassan while the coach is Forbes Daniels and the manager is Nazeer Mohamed.