By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – The second annual white ball Inter-county tournament, featuring Demerara, Berbice, Essequibo and a select Canadian All Stars combination, is set for Saturday at Keele Top, North York, Toronto starting at 12:30hrs.

The brainchild of former Guyana captain and Canadian national Damodar Daesrath, the 20-over affair is expected to once again provide much excitement and spectacular performances.

According to the released fixtures, Berbice will clash with Essequibo while Demerara and All Stars battle simultaneously on adjoining grounds. The two winners will then meet in the grand final.

Last year’s winners Canadian All Stars will once again be led by former West Indies one-day and Guyana all-rounder Royston Crandon, whose heroics spurred them to a crushing seven-wicket victory over the much-vaunted Berbice line-up.

Crandon, who plies his trade during the summer in Canada, has been in fine form for both Vikings in the Toronto & District Super 9 League and Hawaiian Arctic in the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) Elite division this season.

In a brilliant all-round performance in the inaugural tournament, Crandon took two for 16 from 2.3 overs and scored an undefeated 33 as his team romped to an easy win.

Organiser Daesrath, who pointed out that a lot of planning has gone into the tournament, is quite confident of its success. Daesrath himself will skipper the Berbice side and feels his side has what it takes to emerge tops this time around.

The tournament has as its main sponsors Canadian Surplus Guyana, Caribbean Lyme Restaurant, JDG Tooling, Dent Wizard, S&G Glass Insulation, PGI Limited, 24 Hours Glass System, T/S Enterprise, IR Construction, Tropical Nights Restaurant, Caribbean Sensation and Santa Maria.

The winners are set to take away Cdn$2 000 and the Canadian Surplus trophy while the runners-up will take home Cdn$500 and the Dent Wizard trophy. Several other incentives are up for grabs and these include the most valuable player (MVP) in the final – Tropical Night Restaurant trophy; most runs in the final – Caribbean Sensation trophy; most wickets in the final – S&G Glass Insulation trophy; most runs in the tournament – JDG Tooling trophy; most wickets in the tournament – Caribbean Lyme Restaurant trophy; highest individual score – PGI Ltd trophy; best catch in the tournament – T/S Enterprise trophy; MVP Berbice vs Essequibo – 24 Hours Glass System trophy; MVP Demerara vs Canadian All Stars – IR Construction trophy and batsman with the most sixes in the final – Santa Maria trophy.

Following are the teams: Berbice — Damodar Daesrath (captain), Riaz Kadir, Farouk Hussain, Harrienarine Chattergoon, Hemnarine Chattergoon, Yadram Bogh, Andy Persaud, Nishal Dais, Aftab Shamsudeen, Muniram Karran, Fizul Haniff, Anil Kumar, Lindon Persaud and Anil Seecharran. Azad Lall (manager). Essequibo – Ravin Babulall (captain), Raja Pooran, Javed Parsram, Wasim Parsram, Raymond Isahack, Imtiaz Moursalien, Javed Gaznabi, Devon Ramnauth, Narindra Mandolall, Steve Ramdas, Anand Munilal, Anil Veerasammy and Richard Mahase. Bobby Ramlagan (manager).

Canadian All-Stars – Royston Crandon (captain), Looknauth Ramsuchit (vice-captain), Shaun Deonandan, Reyaz Prahalad, Rishi Samuel, Surujnarine Kandasammy, Rawle Scott, Rabindra Diaram, Zakir Khan, Randy Roopnarine, Bolanauth Sukhu and Terrance Van Sertima. Iqbal Rahaman (trainer), Danny Sukhnandan (coach) and Pream Punwasi (manager).

Demerara — Troy Gobin (captain), Parmanand Vernon, Zaheer Haniff, Uniss Yusuf, Avinash Sookdeo, Anil Mahadeo, Surujpaul Deosarran, Krishna Deosarran, Eon Katchay, Satrohan Balkarran, Richard Dias, Ian Baldeo, Gavin Glasgow and Ramo Malone. Orin O’Neil (manager).