AS PART of their preparations for this year’s inaugural West Indies Cricket Board/NAGICO Super50 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago, the Christopher Barnwell-led National XI will be engaging a Rest XI in several practice encounters.

To date, two of those matches were played, with the National XI coming out victorious on both occasions, while the third fixture which was scheduled for the Georgetown Cricket Club ground last Friday, was abandoned without a ball being bowled, due to a soggy outfield.
Match number four on the cards will take place today at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence as a day/night fixture, with the first ball being bowled at 13:30hrs.
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in their attempt to ensure the National team is adequately prepared for this tournament as well as the Regional four-day tournament, bit the bullet by having a number of players undergo an encampment period from December 28 last.
The initial number was 37, but with the NAGICO Super50 being the first engagement for the year, that number was trimmed to 26, from which the 14-man squad was selected and preparations hit an intense stage, ahead of the team’s departure next Tuesday.
Two fitness specialists from the Guyana Defence Force, Patrick King and Carl Stephenson, were brought in to work with the coaches, being led by head coach Esaun Crandon along with GCB Chairman of Selectors Rayon Griffith and Julian Moore.
Not even the inclement weather which prevailed last week, could have hampered the preparations for the team, as in the morning they did fitness and aerobics, calisthenics and beep test at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, while in the afternoon, the indoor facility at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at LBI was used for batsmanship.
This week, they have switched to the Guyana National Stadium to wind down their preparations and following today’s practice encounter is another day/night fixture at the same venue on Friday.
Admission to today’s game is free and cricket fans will have the opportunity of seeing dependable Guyana and West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has been named vice-captain to Barnwell, in action.
Also in action for the National XI will be former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, whom many believed will come good during the NAGICO Super50 for Guyana and earn a recall to the Regional team, Leon Johnson, Trevon Griffith, Robin Bacchus, Assad Fudadin and Narsingh Deonarine.
Deonarine should be keen to have a knock in the middle and get a good score under his belt, following his recent slump in form during the West Indies’ tour of New Zealand, while the always smiling Royston Crandon can, on his day, destroy any bowling attack thrown at him on the local scene. mention
Barnwell, in his current form with the bat, has been ripping local bowlers apart at the club, county and even in the practice games so one can expect nothing different today, taking into consideration he has been named in the Windies provisional squad for the ICC T20 World Cup.
Anthony Bramble, the lone gloveman in the squad is no rabbit with the bat, but needs to get a total under his belt prior to his departure for the Twin Island Republic, while national spin twins Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul, can weigh in on their own with the bat in hand.
Paul Wintz and Ronsford Beaton handled the new ball well for their team in the two matches played, coming in for some praise from coach Esaun Crandon who said “… our two fast bowlers selected, Ronsford Beaton and Paul Wintz, have been hitting the right areas in the nets and two practice matches to date.”
For the Rest XI, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Rajendra Chandrika, Jonathan Foo, Jason Sinclair, Vishal Singh, Zaheer Mohammed and Chandrapaul Hemraj, will try to come good with the bat even as Rajiv Ivan seeks to continue his good form shown of late, following his axing from the National team.
Their bowling will rest on the shoulders of the West Berbice pair of fast bowlers in Raun Johnson and Keon Joseph, while left-armer Andre Stoll, who has been troubling the National batsmen with his two-way swing, will have his work cut out for him.
Mohammed is a useful off-spinner in the middle overs, while more support with spin will come from Ivan, Hemraj and Amir Khan, making this contest an interesting one, as the Rest XI will be going all out for a win.

(By Calvin Roberts)