–Tournament set for August 12-31

THE Guyana youth selectors have named a strong squad to represent this country in the 2024 Cricket West Indies Rising Stars U-17 tournament in Trinidad.
The Guyana squad, which includes four players who played in recent U-19 tournament, is scheduled to depart for Trinidad on Sunday, August 11.
This year, five rounds of the 50-overs will be contested from August 12-20 before three rounds of the two-day format will be played from August 23-31.
Yesterday, Chronicle Sport visited camp at the Chetram Singh indoor facility at the LBI Ground on the East Coast Demerara, where a simulation 50-over game was in progress.

Guyana has never won this title, but Coach Ameer Rahaman says he is very satisfied with the preparations, despite the adverse weather that affected most of the ‘trial’ matches.
“It feels good to have the time to prepare, as the weather hasn’t been nice to us for a while now. Upon entering camp, we conducted a fitness session, and did work on the ground. During the two-day and the 50-over preparations, we implemented the bonus points system that the tournament is using, so that every player will understand the value of not only winning the matches, but gaining every bit of extra bonus point to stay ahead in case of any unfortunate event, such bad weather, since the matches are only two days of cricket,” said Coach Rahaman, who was the coach of the winning Guyana U-13 team last year.
Today (Friday) is the last day of the camp, and West Indies off-spinning all-rounder Kevin Sinclair is expected to visit the LBI facility to conduct a motivational talk with the boys.
“The strength of our team lies with the all-round abilities of the players. Also that the majority of these players have had National experience, which brings more value to the team. The team’s strength is boosted by players that participated in the recently concluded U-19 and U-15 tournaments, and are currently high on confidence, and mainly the youngsters’ hunger for success,” the Berbician coach said.
He added, “The players’ motivation to win their country’s first U-17 title has also been a driving force. Definitely preparation is key, and preparing with the right mindset and plans is very important. Getting the youngsters to understand their value and roles in the team is also key.”

Riyad Latiff, Johnathan Van Lange, Gulcharan Chulai, and Rampersaud Ramnauth all played in the recent U-19 tournament in St. Vincent, and are expected to play key roles as Guyana hunts its first ever title at this level.
“I knew the bonus points for fast bowling was there a while now, and I have always liked it, as you get to see young fast bowlers given more opportunities. With the introduction of the wrist-spin bonus point rule, I think it’s a great initiative, as we haven’t seen a lot of wrist spinners from the Caribbean elevated to the West Indies level for a while now, especially at the longer format. Our preparation has been going well with the wrist spinners, as we currently have two travelling with the team, and also have three at camp testing the boys out,” he said.
“The wrist spinners are Navindra Sankar and Riyad Latif, while the left-arm spinner is Golcharran Chulai. Both Chulai and Latif played in the U-19 tournament,” said the Rosehall, Canje Cricket Club coach, who has Canje players Adrian Hetmyer, Romario Ramdehol and Devon Wharton in this team.

THE FULL TEAM:
Rampersaud Ramnauth, Vikask Willson, Johnathan Van Lange (Capt.), Arfraz Ali Budhoo (V/Cap), Emmanuel Lewis, Adrian Hetmyer, Romario Ramdehol, Riyad Latif, Golcharran Chulai, Navindra Sankar, Romesh Bharrat, Devon Wharton, Darwin Joseph (Coach) Ameer Rahaman, (Manager) Neil Rudder.