– Campbelle leads female team

FORMER West Indies players Assad Fudadin and Royston Crandon were among the notable stars to make the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club’s (RHTYSC) All-Time XI team, that was unveiled recently as part of the club’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

Fudadin, former West Indies Test batsman along with Crandon who represented the Windies in limited overs cricket, headlined a star-studded line-up. The XI also features some of Guyana’s and the Region’s top national cricketers; including Andre Percival, 5-time Regional 4-Day winning coach Esaun Crandon who was named skipper, Delbert Hicks and other familiar Ancient County names.

Two active players who made the cut were former Guyana U-19 skipper Shawn Pereira and veteran off-spinner Eon Hooper. The pair replaced Ravi Narine and Shawn Grant from the last selected all-time eleven.

The batting order is very strong on paper with Batson, Fraser, Fudadin, Crandon, Neil Williams, Percival, Mahadeo and Hicks – all having scored over 6 000 runs in their RHTYSC careers with a combined 38 centuries while Hooper, Crandon and Pereira are useful all-rounders.

Club Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster stated that a 5-member committee selected the team based on performance on the cricket field, personal discipline, team spirit, loyalty to the club and role model status.

He disclosed that numerous RHTYSC members were considered, with Clinton Pestano, Kevlon Anderson, Junior Sinclair, Keith Simpson, Kevin Sinclair, Jason Sinclair, Ravi Narine, Shawn Grant, Abdel Fudadin, Rajiv Ivan, Michael Trim being among those who were unluckily left out.

Foster expressed confident that Pestano, Anderson, Junior Sinclair, Kevin Sinclair and Keith Simpson would be included in 2025 in the 35th anniversary all-time team. The RHTYSC was founded in September, 1990 by three-time Commonwealth Youth Service Awardee, the ST. Francis Community Developers. The club is the only youth and sports club in the history of Guyana to receive a national award. The All-Time XI team represents the best cricketers in the club’s history

Meanwhile the club has also disclosed that West Indies batting star Shemaine Campbelle was named skipper of the club’s All-Time Female XI. The team in batting order is Meliane Henry, Marian Samaroo, Shabika Gajnabi, Shemaine Campbelle, Sheneta Grimmond, Sherika Campbelle, Jackie Singh, Nikita Toney, Dian Prahalad, Plaffina Millington and Erva Giddings, Gajnabi would serve as the vice-captain.

The RHTYSC is the only cricket club in Guyana to have a female team and every member of the team – except Sherika Campbelle, who is a senior Berbice player – has represented Guyana at either the junior or senior level. Shemaine Campbelle, Giddings, Gajnabi and Grimmond are all senior West Indies players.