Barnwell and Johnson to lead teams

FOLLOWING the cancellation of their first proposed two-day trial match last week, the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) will be hosting the said game, this time with an additional day at the Everest Cricket Club ground commencing at 09:00hrs from tomorrow.Guyana and West Indies ‘A’ Team middle order batsman, Leon Johnson, and his Guyana and West Indies T20 all-rounder, Christopher Barnwell, have been tasked with the role of leading the two teams in the trials, which would be used as a yardstick to select the Demerara team for the upcoming Guyana Cricket Board four team four-day championships which bowls off next Thursday.
Two former West Indies Test players in Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ryan Ramdass will be featuring in this trial match, along with several other national and promising players who aspire to represent not only Guyana, but the West Indies.
The 30 year old Ramdass, played his lone Test against Sri Lanka eight years ago and was belatedly added to the squad, despite an eight year absence from the Guyana national team, during which time, several openers such as Rajendra Chandrika, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shemroy Barrington, just to name a few, represented Guyana.
Following a successful season in Canada, the Everest Cricket Club stocky right handed batsman, now gets a chance to show the DCB selectors, that including him in the trials was the right thing to do, despite the presence of several opening batsmen around the county.
There is no doubt when it comes to Sarwan’s ability as a middle order batsman, as on his day he can destroy any bowling attack on the local, regional and international stages, even earning for himself, the tag of ‘World’s Best Finisher’ that was first worn unofficially by Australia’s Michael Bevan.
He has played 87 Test matches for the West Indies and scored 15 tons, with his last Test match being against India in July of 2011 against India at Bridgetown, a game that was drawn, with Sarwan scores being 18 and 8.
He has not played the longer version of the game on local soil in a long time, even though he led Leicestershire in English County Cricket earlier this year, while he has played a few T20 games for Georgetown Cricket Club, in the Georgetown Cricket Association/Carib Beer tournament.
How well he will fare on his return to the longer version following a wrist injury is left to be seen, but certainly he would be looking to ink his name not only in the books of the DCB selectors, but also the GCB Senior Selection panel, with the West Indies Cricket Board Regional four- day season starting soon.
On the same note, same can be said for Barrington who has been in form lately in the shorter version of the game for Malteenoes Sports Club and Universal Solutions Bermine. Chandrika, Vishal ‘Cheesy’ Singh, Zaheer Mohammed, Totaram Bishun and Raj Nannan, will all be looking to impress the selectors.
While some baulk at the exclusion of Derwin Christian from both squads, what needs to be noted was his performance for Guyana in this year’s WICB Regional four-day tournament both in front and behind the stumps.
The inclusion of young Kemol Savory and the tried and still to be proven Joseph Perry ahead of Christian, should be a wake up call for the experienced gloveman, who was replaced by Anthony Bramble for Guyana’s last two games at home earlier this year.
That being said, both sides consist of players who are eager to showcase their talent to both sets of selectors, with the aim of representing their County and later country and one would hope that the weather smile on the players for the duration of this contest, which can be a keenly contested one.
Johnson’s Team: Leon Johnson (Captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Shemroy Barrington, Balbinder Shivpersaud, Zaheer Mohamed, Vishal Singh, Amir Khan, Joseph Perry, Randy Knights, Shaquille Williams, Andre Stoll, Paul Wintz, Totaram Bishun, Raj Nannan, Trevon Griffith and Ryan Ramdass
Barnwell’s Team: Christopher Barnwell (Captain), Rajendra Chandrika, Yetesh Dhanpaul, Arvin Seepersaud, Kemol Savory, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Pattadin, Carl Rambharose, Trevor Benn, Kellon Carmichael, Antonell Atwell, Robin Bacchus, Jeetendra Sookdeo.

(By Calvin Roberts)