– rain threatens resumption

By Sean Devers
THE GCB four-day Inter-County Cricket tournament is set to resume today at the Enmore Community Centre Ground and the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, after a nine-year hiatus.

The last time this competition was played, in 2014, Demerara won the title with former West Indies batter Rajendra Chandrika scoring 402 runs to be the MVP of the tournament.

Steven Jacobs and out of favour Essequibo left-arm spinner Anthony Adams took 15 wickets each and shared the prize for bowler with the most wickets.

This year, Chandrika has returned to lead a young and inexperienced Select X1 and, along with Adams, who captains an Essequibo side hunting its first title at this level, will press for selection for the Guyana Harpy Eagles team for the last three rounds of the regional first-class tournament.

Another player who participated in the 2014 tournament and is also vying for a Guyana spot is Demerara’s Chris Barnwell.

Today, defending champions Demerara, led by National captain Leon Johnson, will face off with a Veerasammy Permaul-led Berbice line-up in the feature game of the opening round at Providence while Essequibo will clash with the Select X1 at Enmore.

But the adverse weather conditions could have an impact during the course of the first round of matches.

At Providence where the forecast is for overcast conditions with the possibility of rain, the ground and pitch are in prime condition and, if it rains a bit, the Providence sward is one of the world’s fastest drying International cricket venues.

The pugnacious Shimron Hetmyer, who was included in the Berbice team, is unavailable for the first round.

Such is the strength of the pre-tournament favorites that first class pacers Demetri Cameron and Clinton Pestano have been relegated to the list of reserves.

Berbice’s batting will be spearheaded by Kevlon Anderson, who has returned from T&T where he scored a century, and Jonathan Foo, who is capable of destroying bowling attacks at this level.

National youth keeper-batter Tommani Ceasar, along with Adrian Sukwah, Junior Sinclair, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Garfield Benjamin, Veerasammy Permaul and Romario Shepherd gives Berbice a strong batting line-up.

Their pace pack will be led by Romario Shepherd, Nial Smith and Shamar Joseph, while the spin department will be taken care of by Permaul and the unrelated Sinclair’s — Kevin and Junior.

Johnson was on the brink of being dropped as Guyana’s captain and he will know that, at this level, he has to score hundreds while Akshaya Persaud, whose average in six first-class matches is 9.5, will also need to score ‘big’ to retain his place in the team for the remainder of the first-class season.

West Indies U-19 batter, Matthew Nandu, who scored a first-class ton against Barbados, will spearhead the Demerara batting and will hope for support in the absence of Chanderpaul Hemraj.

Chris Barnwell, Johnson, Persaud, Tevin Imlach, Raymond Perez, Sachin Singh and Shamar Yearwood will need to contribute with the bat.

The bowling should be in the hands of Barnwell, Ronaldo Ali Mohamed, Richie Looknauth, Ashmead Nedd, Steven Sankar and Qumar Torrington.

Demerara squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Matthew Nandu, Raymond Perez, Tevin Imlach, Akshaya Persaud, Shamar Yearwood, Christopher Barnwell, Ronaldo Ali Mohamed, Richie Looknauth, Ashmead Nedd, Steven Sankar, Qumar Torrington, Sachin Singh and Sachin Balgobin. The Manager is Puneet
Jaigopaul and head coach is Garvin Need. The reserves are Nehemiah Hohenkirk, Chris Balgobin, Navendra Persaud, Kishan Tracy, Ronaldo Renee, Riyad Latiff and Jermain Ramroop.

Essequibo squad: Antony Adams (Captain), Kevon Boodie, Sheldon Charles, Kemol Savory, Neland Codogan, Ricardo Adams, Keemo Paul, Quentin Sampson, Ronaldo Renn, Leon Swamy, Avinash Persaud, Malcolm Hubbard, Wazim Mohamed, Ronsford Beaton. The Manager is Yogeshwar Lall and head coach is Ryan Hercules. The reserves are Ricardo Peters, Rajendra Ramballi, Shane Wong, Carl Gilgeous, Beesham Moses and Garfield Phillips.

Berbice squad: Shimron Hetmyer, Tommani Ceasar, Adrian Sukwah, Kevlon Anderson, Junior Sinclair, Jonathan Foo, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Veerasammy Permaul, Romario Shepherd, Nial Smith, Shamar Joseph, Garfield Benjamin and Shamar Angel. The reserves are Jonathan Rampersaud, Demetri Cameron, Clinton Pestano, Zeynul Ramsammy, Kelvin Umroa and Sylus Tyndall. The head coach is Julian Moore and Manager is Travis Hardcourt.

GCB Select XI squad: Rajendra Chandrika (Captain), Alvin Mohabir, Jeremiah Scott, Carlos La Rose, Zachary Jodah, Rajendra Ramballi, Nathan Persaud, David Williams, Mark Gonzales, Demeter Cameron, Jonathan Rampersaud, Zeynul Ramsammy, Sylus Tyndall and Kevin Umroa. The Manager is Ravindranauth Seeram while the head coach is Clive Grimmond.