DEFENDING Champions of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) organised GTM Under-19 Inter-County limited overs tournament ,Berbice, are heavily favoured to retain the title at the end of today’s final, in which they face Demerara XI at the Everest Cricket Club ground from 09:30hrs.

When the two sides met during the preliminary round of the competition, the team from the Ancient County walked away with a comfortable 99 runs victory, thanks to opener Romario Shepherd-DeJonge’s belligerent innings.
For today’s encounter, which will be supervised by  Shannon Crawford and Gyananand Sukhdeo with Cyril Garnath as the standby, it is expected that Berbice will bat first on a wicket that is spin friendly, taking into consideration their bowling attack is a spin based one.
Shepherd-DeJonge, Ashkay Homraj, Devin Baldeo, Sharaz Ramcharran, Shailendra Shameer, Deryck Narine, David Latchaya, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai and skipper Shawn Pereira will lead the visitors batting lineup against a Demerara bowling attack that can be loose and erratic at times.
The return of Motie-Kanhai to strengthen Berbice’s bowling attack, with worthy support from Pereira, Shepherd-DeJonge, Shameer, Ramcharran, Latchaya, Narine, Suresh Dhanai and Kevon Jahawir, will certainly be a test for their opponents batting lineup that includes Guyana’s latest first class player in 17 year old Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
The left- handed pair of Chanderpaul and the pugnacious Brian Sattaur who are expected to open Demerara’s batting lineup, are yet to give their side a formidable start in this phase of the tournament, with their opening partnership being 14 (against Berbice) and 0 against Essequibo.
In fact, their early demise left much of the batting to be done by their skipper Kamesh Yadram and wicketkeeper/batsman Kemol Savory, both of whom have been equal to the task, with amicable support from Andrew Gibson, Devon Lorde, Dexter George, Steven Sankar and Bernard Bailey.
Some pundits have even raised questions on the opening pair’s ability to fashion a run chase for their team, taking into consideration that Chanderpaul was run out by the full length of the pitch against Berbice at Albion, while Sattaur was caught at point (soft dismissal) against Essequibo.
Some even believe that the left handed Chanderpaul, who is the son of dependable Guyana and West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, should be dominating the bowlers in this tournament, taking into consideration his recent form in England where he represented Stainsby Hall cricket Club in the Derbyshire Leagues.
Should the younger Chanderpaul and Sattaur turn the batting fortunes around for Demerara today and give their team a solid start, then Yadram and company can certainly give the defending champions a daunting total to chase.
That aside, the Demerara bowling lineup that includes Bailey, George, Sankar, Lorde, Yadram and Shivram Persaud, would need to keep the Berbicians in check, if they intend to do the double by adding the limited overs title to the three day title they wrestled away after only two rounds.
Sankar has been the backbone of his team’s bowling throughout this competition, ripping apart the opposition batting lineup like a shark tearing away at the flesh of a human being, with today’s venue being his favourite hunting ground, while further etching his name in the selectors’ mind.
Whichever side the coin lands on today at the toss, is also an important factor, as neither side is known for winning the toss and inviting their opponents to bat first, which makes this matchup a must see by all and sundry.
The final 11 for both teams will be chosen from: Demerara: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Brian Sattaur, Chandrika Persaud, Deonarine Seegobin, Andrew Gibson, Kamesh Yadram (captain), 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 Robert ‘Pacer’ Adonis.
Berbice from: Shawn Perreira (captain), Nick Ramsaroop, Devin Baldeo, Parmanand Narine, Sharaz Ramcharran, Ashkay Homraj (wkp.), Kevon Jawahir, Deryck Narine, David Latchaya, Shailendra Shameer, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Suresh Dhanai, and Romario Shepherd-DeJonge.