… Two matches bowl off today

FOLLOWING their intense battle in the three-day format, wherein several individual performances were highlighted with five centuries being scored, the four teams will now turn their attention to the limited overs format of this year’s Guyana Cricket Board Inter-county Under-19 tournament.

The action bowls off today with two matches being played at the Wales and Everest Cricket Club grounds. Berbice take on three-day champions Demerara at Wales, while at Camp Road, Essequibo and President’s XI will do battle.
Several players who stood out during the three-day phase of the tournament and those who did not will gladly grasp this opportunity to impress the Nazimul Drepaul-chaired Selection panel, if they intend to make the national team to compete in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board Regional Under-19 tournament.
In the Demerara versus Berbice encounter, Demerara will be looking to turn around the results from the three-day encounter, when they lost with one ball to go on the final day.
To this effect, coach Gavin Nedd and manager Robert ‘Pacer’ Adonis will strive to put the best 11 on the field, knowing that the margin for error is limited in this format of the game.
Skipper Brian Sattaur and first-class opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, turned their fortunes around with the bat in the final round match against the President’s XI, with scores of 61 and 161 respectively and, with Sattaur being a pugnacious opener in this format of the game, the Berbice team’s work will be cut out for them.
There is also Renaldo Renee and Malcolm Hubbard, two quick scorers who can work the ball around to pick up the singles, while waiting to pounce on the loose balls, They will be backed by Deonarine Seegobin, Rudolph Singh, the hard-hitting Shurfane Rutherford and the patient Kemol Savory.
Their bowling will be led by Keon Morris and Kevin Paul, backed by Rutherford, who bowled well in tandem with Morris to guide Demerara to the three-day title which was in the grasp of Berbice for a 24-hour period.
Morris can also handle himself well with the bat, so too can Steven Sankar, who, alongside Berbice skipper Shiraz Ramcharran, finished the three-day tournament with 16 wickets each, and will offer full support in the bowling department with his leg breaks and googlies.
Daniel Basdeo, Kevin Paul, Stephon Browne and Chanderpaul will offer worthy support in the bowling department for Demerara, who will be seeking to start the tournament with a win.
However, Berbice team who are hungry for success and longing to prove that their upset win over Demerara in the three-day tournament was no fluke – as many would have said, taking into consideration the way they won.
Middle-order batsman Shimron Hetmyer struck the first ton, 126, against President’s XI in the three-day but faded after then. He will be looking to redeem himself in the limited overs format, which suits his batting style very well, especially during the Power Play overs.
Balchand Baldeo and David Latchaya also scored centuries, with Latchaya’s ton being the turning point in their game against Demerara, and with batsmen of the calibre of Ramcharran, Leon Andrews, Ashkay Homraj, Arif Chan, Viendra Gooniah, and Dimitri Cameron in the Ancient County line-up, today’s contest can be a humdinger.
Niall Smith, by far was the best fast bowler on show during the limited time he was asked to bowl by Ramcharran, despite Morris’ feats with the ball.
He will be sharing the new ball with Grisean Grant, who is no rabbit with the bat, while the spin department, led by Ramcharran, Baldeo and Parmanand Ramdhan, can pose a problem for the Demerara batsmen on a track that will offer assistance late in the day.
Calling a winner in the President’s XI versus Essequibo encounter is not easy, as the Cinderella County lineup have improved with time in the three-day tournament, recording a victory over President’s XI as well to finish third.
This was mainly due to their skipper Kemo Paul’s inspirational ton. He received batting support from Travis Drakes, Keanu Harry, Avenash Persaud, Ryan Adams, Ricardo Peters and Parmesh Parsotam, with Paul, Harry, Akil Wallace and Akini Adams leading the bowling for Essequibo.
Sunil Singh, Ryan Shun, Ricardo Ali Mohammed, Gavin Moriah, Michael Shalim and Daniel Lewis will in one way or another look to prove to their respective County selectors, with their performances today and onwards that they deserved to be included in that team,
The action gets under way at 09:30hrs and the squads from which the final 11 will be chosen are as follows:
Demerara: Ronaldo Renee, Brian Sattaur, Deonarine Seegobin, Rudolph Singh, Ramnarine Chatura, Malcolm Hubbard, Kemol Savory, Steven Sankar, Stephon Browne, Keon Morris, Kevin Paul, Daniel Basdeo, Sherfane Rutherford and Tagenarine Chanderpaul. The coach is Gavin Nedd and the manager is Robert Adonis.
President XI: Ryan Shun, Sunil Singh, Travis Persaud, Vishwantal Ramlakhan, Richie Lucknauth, Vivian Albert, Ershad Ali, Kelvin Shewprasad, Ronaldo Mohamed, Michael Shalim, Chavin Moriah, Daniel Lewis, Shivnarine Srikissoon, Yenkini Favourite and Avishkar Sewkarran. The coach is Adrian Amsterdam and the manager is David Black.
Berbice: Shimron Hetmyer, Balchand Baldeo, Leon Andrews, Ashkay Homraj, Viendra Gooniah, Arif Chan, David Latchaya, Sharaz Ramcharran, Hakeem Hinds, Parmanand Ramdhan, Martin Singh, Grisean Grant, Dimitri Cameron and Niall Smith. The coach is Hubert Evans and the manager is Julian Cambridge.
Essequibo: Ricardo Peters, Kemo Paul, Akil Wallace, Akini Adams, Ryan Adams, Avenash Persaud, Mahindra Balbadar, Parmesh Parsotam, Shivindra Hemraj, Paul Williams, Paul Simboo, Keno Harry, Travis Drakes and Jamal Hartman. The coach is Vibert Johnson and the manager is Fabian Durant.

(By Calvin Roberts)