SEWNARINE Chattergoon and Vishal Singh are two of the three batsmen to have recorded half-centuries for Guyana so far, in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Four-Day tournament, with Assad Fudadin being the other.

However, the senior selection committee of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) which is being headed by Rayon Griffith and includes Adrian Amsterdam and Nazimul Drepaul, did not find favour with Singh and Chattergoon for Guyana’s next game against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) that is set to start Friday.
The left-handed duo, who have a combined total of 197 runs from six innings, have been replaced by fellow left-handed pair of Leon Johnson who was appointed captain of the team but suffered a knee injury prior to its departure for Jamaica two weeks ago, and Chandrapaul Hemraj.
Both Chattergoon and Singh have struggled for consistency in the three matches they have played, with Chattergoon, a former Test opener accumulating 87 runs from six innings with a highest score of 50 in the second round against Barbados at the Guyana National Stadium.
However, he has been giving his wicket away with some loose shots, with the most noticeable being in the first innings against the Windward Islands in the last round, when he flashed at one outside the off stump from Kenroy Peters and offered Tyrone Theophile a catch at second slip.
One would have expected Chattergoon, who played four Test matches for the West Indies and accumulated 127 runs at an average of 18.14, to guide the younger Tagenarine Chanderpaul during their opening partnership for Guyana, but that was not to be, as he was the first one to be dismissed five out of six times in this tournament.
The diminutive Singh, who started with an attractive 73 in the second innings against Jamaica – a game Guyana lost by seven wickets – has been ordinary since, with scores of 5, 1, 14 and 0, but he still managed to aggregate 111runs, which is second to Fudadin’s 170.
Despite this, he will have to watch Guyana’s next game which is a day/night affair at the Three W’s Oval in Cave Hill, St Michael, from the WICB’s website from March 21 to 24, if he decides to stay at home and not go to Trinidad and Tobago to further increase his averages there.
All-rounder Christopher Barnwell led the side in the first two rounds against Jamaica and Barbados, while veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, playing his first game of the tournament, took over the leadership reins for the last match against the Windward Islands, and has been retained in the 13-man squad.
So too is Chanderpaul’s son, 17-year-old Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who has to date scored 95 runs from his four innings, with a top score of 41 against Barbados, along with the struggling Narsingh Deonarine, who has 76 runs from his six innings, with his individual scores reading 0, 38, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 38.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Anthony Bramble and his Albion Cricket Club teammates in spin twins Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo are also part of the travelling party who leave for Barbados sometime today.
While Amir Khan, who has played one game against Jamaica following injuries to both Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, has been named in the 13-man squad, there was no place for West Indies ‘A’ team fast bowler Ronsford Beaton.
The lanky Essequibian picked up a side strain during the Jamaica contest and has been relegated to the sidelines ever since, undergoing therapy while Guyana took on Barbados in the first-ever day/night first class contest at the Guyana National Stadium and Windward Islands.
In his absence, Young Achievers Sports Club’s Raun Johnson was handed his debut for the game against Barbados and what an impressive one he had, taking 3 for 38 and 1 for 18 in the two innings.
He will be expected to share the new ball on the fast Barbados track with Keon Joseph, who has to date taken 3 wickets for 145, with his best figures being 1 for 27 against Jamaica, receiving ample support from Barnwell and Fudadin.
The full 13-man squad reads: Leon Johnson (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Christopher Barnwell, Anthony Bramble, Devendra Bishoo, Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Veerasammy Permaul, Raun Johnson, Keon Joseph and Amir Khan.

(By Calvin Roberts)