By Elroy Stephney
WHEN I first met the late Shivnandan Mandolall as a teenager, I had no doubt that he would have worn national colours. In fact he was already a house-hold name at age 14, having then acquired formal coaching and possessing text-book stroke-play. His left-handed disposition made batting intriguingly attractive to the naked eye, especially when he was on bended knees to unleash one of his raspingcover-drives.

It is not an illusion therefore to feature Shiv in my team, having felt obliged to select an all-time best Essequibo XI from players who would have represented Guyana at the national Under- 19 level. Indeed, the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) should officially honour its heroes by inducting them into a Hall of Fame.

Below is my Best XI in batting order, given my knowledge and privilege of playing with and against them at various stages during their careers.
Yogeshwar Lall, Herell Green, Rovendra Mandolall, Troy Cornelius, Keemo Paul, Shivnandan Mandolall, Ricardo Adams, David Wallace, Ray Reid, Ronsford Beaton and Rayon Thomas.
Shiv Mandolall died in 2013 at the age of 31.

Essequibo has produced the least amount of national cricketers in comparison to the two other counties. While it is not a studious reflection of the county’s talent, the chosen team is of the highest calibre and deserving of such recognition. There are three historical firsts for Essequibo with Shivnandan Mandolall becoming the first to captain a National team when he led the Regional President’s XI during the 2002 Youth tournament in Guyana.

The mercurial Ricardo Adams in 2012 was the first to score a regional century against Trinidad and Tobago while the highly talented Keemo Paul is the first to represent the West Indies Under -19 team, which claimed World Cup glory in 2016, for the first time in history.
Notably, Former West Indies Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan was born in Wakenaam but he never represented Essequibo. Instead, he played for Demerara during his career.

Additionally, Yogeshwar Lall has the highest inter-county individual score, stroking a masterful unbeaten 182 against Berbice to engineer a rare victory for the Cinderella County. His opening partner, Herell Green, is the other inter-county centurion in the team. He is also a competent wicket-keeper and will often take the gloves.
The batting has proven depth with the Mandolall brothers providing fluency, artistry and class. They were prolific scorers whose reservoir of invention was unlimited and they were genuine all-rounders; invaluable assets to any team.

The other all-rounder is David Wallace who had all the qualities to have become another Shane Watson of the modern era.
His aggressive batting, strength and frightening pace were unique missiles of destruction. Providing spin would be left-armer, Ray Reid who is the county’s most successful bowler. He claimed 27 wickets in the 1995 Regional tournament and bowled his Country to the coveted title.

The pace department has unquestionably two of Guyana’s finest fast-bowlers who have distinguished themselves. Rayon Thomas represented the West Indies ‘A’ team along with Beaton, whose future remains infectiously fascinating.

Captaincy will be rested on the firm shoulders of Troy Cornelius who led the national youth side in 2001 in Guyana. He is mentally focused and has the distinction of scoring a senior inter-county century; a meritorious feat only achieved by Jeff Jones, Ramcharran Singh, Dinesh Joseph and Ramesh Narine.

My 12th man will be Mahendra Boodram who is also part of the elite club to score an inter-county Under- 19 century. Significantly it’s a balanced diet of extraordinarily gifted jewels of Essequibo’s treasury. Imposingly too and with his uncanny ability to generate both fire and humour within the dressing room, Shivnandan Mandolall is strategically conferred with the tag as the talisman in the team to engineer another victory.