EVEN though he led West Demerara to victory in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Under-17 Inter-Association tournament, his leadership quality was questioned when Demerara played and lost to Essequibo in the first round of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Inter-county Under-17 tournament.
Despite this, the Nazimul Drepaul-led Junior Selection Committee of

the GCB saw it fit to land the captaincy of Guyana’s Under-17 team, into the hands of Travis Persaud, when they selected and named the team to represent this country in the West Indies Cricket Board Under-17 tournament later this month.
Pugnacious opener Shimron Hetmyer, along with Ronaldo Renee, Kemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford and Keanu Harry are also in the 14-man squad which commenced a five-day encampment period at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, prior to their departure for Tobago last Sunday night.
Unfortunately for Shamar Graham, Nathan Persaud and Clitus Johnson, who are worthy players to be selected in any Under-17 and even Under-19 team, the selection committee thought otherwise and placed them among the six standbys.
However, Essequibo’s resilient opener Parmanand Ramdhan and Berbice’s Daniel Lewis found favour with the selectors, along with Brandon Persaud and his unrelated namesake Navendra Persaud, as Berbice and Essequibo each got five players in the 14-man squad, with the other four coming from Demerara.
Former national off-spinner Gavin Nedd has been tasked with coaching the team which will be managed by Nazeer Mohamed.
The 14-man squad reads: Travis Persaud (captain), Shimron Hetmyer, Grisean Grant, Travis Drakes, Ronaldo Renee, Brandon Persaud, Parmesh Parsotam, Kemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Daniel Lewis, Keanu Harry, Navendra Persaud, Parmanand Ramdhan and Ryan Adams.
The six standby players are: Kasim Khan, Shamar Graham, Leon Andrews, Nathan Persaud, Clitus Johnson and Balchand Baldeo.