In top-of-the-table clash

By Sean Devers in Trinidad
SINCE sponsored Regional First Class Cricket began in 1966 Guyana has won 12 titles including the Busta International Shield in 2002 while Trinidad & Tobago has five.

Today, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in South Trinidad, the two teams will face off from 09:30 hrs today in the third round of the West Indies Championships with the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) leading the pack with 20 points from a win over Barbados and a draw in Grenada while the ‘Red Force’ are 10 points after draws with the Windwards and the Leewards.

Led by Leon Johnson, who will retire from first-class Cricket at the end of this season, the GHE had their final practice session yesterday afternoon at the TTCB’s National Training Centre in Cova.

While Alick Athanaze and Nkrumah Bonner, back from South Africa for the third round, Guyana’s Manager Albert ‘Smith’ Clements, Guyana’s most successful U-19 Coach, winning six consecutive titles from 1992, explained that Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Gudakesh Motie should be home for the fourth round in Guyana.

The team will miss the services of Chanderpaul Hemraj (recovering from concussion), Shimron Hetymer (unavailable for family reasons) and Romario Shepherd (ODI duties), and will depend on 19-year-old Matthew Nandu, who got a century on debut against Barbados and who is third in the runs aggregate; Kemol Savory could be his opening partner, with Kelvon Anderson, who is expected make his debut today, batting at three, and Tevin Imlach at four and the out of form Johnson, Guyana’s most successful captain with five consecutive titles from 2015-2019, at five.

With Anthony Bramble, Keemo Paul and Kevin Sinclair in the line-up, Guyana’s batting is strong on paper. However, most of the top order has not fired this season and the batting remains the biggest worry on what should be a track which offers some assistance early to pacers in the contest.

Ronsford Beaton, Keemo Paul and Shamar Joseph could form the pace attack with Nial Smith possibly missing out while left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul has the second most wickets (11) and could operate in tandem with off-spinner Kevin Sinclair. The Guyanese will want to assess conditions today before making a decision on giving Antony Adams his debut.

The tournament’s leading run scorer is Red Force’s skipper, Daren Bravo, who has 261 runs which includes two centuries against Leewards while Permaul is the only bowler with over 500 wickets for Guyana. These two are expected to play big roles for their sides in this round since Bravo plays spin very well.

The sun has been shining over Trinidad recently and conditions should favour the batters before the spinners make an impact on day three and four.

Apart from Bravo, Bryan Charles, Jyd Goolie, Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Justin Mannick, Jason Mohammed, Keagan Simmons, Jeremy Solozano and Tion Webster will all need to contribute with bat if the Red Force hopes to press for their first First-Class title since 2005.

Khan, Vikash Mohan, Uthman Muhammad and Khary Pierre would need to be on target to restrict a potentially powerful Guyana batting line-up.

Teams
GHE: Leon Johnson (captain), Antony Adams, Kevlon Anderson, Anthony Bramble, Ronsford Beaton, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Matthew Nandu, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemol Savory, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith

T&T Red Force: Daren Bravo (captain), Bryan Charles, Jyd Goolie, Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Justin Mannick, Jason Mohammed, Vikash Mohan, Uthman Muhammad, Khary Pierre, Keagan Simmons, Jeremy Solozano, Tion Webster