THE jointly-sponsored Ministry of Education/National Sports Commission/Guyana Cricket Board national secondary schools Under-15, 40 overs-a-side cricket competition has reached the Inter-branch level in the East Berbice Region.

In the Corentyne District, the Lower Corentyne Branch made very light work of the Central Corentyne Branch, beating them by a whopping 272 runs, thanks to Shawn Pereira’s unbeaten century and Shailendra Shameer’s half-century.

In the match which was played at Port Mourant Community Centre ground, Lower Corentyne winning the toss and opting to bat first scored a mammoth 330-4, with Pereira contributing 138 (14×4) and Shameer 82.

Lower Corentyne were given a start of 62 by Nazrudin Bux and Madan Budram after which both of them fell in quick succession to leave Lower Corentyne at 64 for 2 with Bux scoring 29 and Budram 24.

It was from that point that Berbice Under-15 captain Pereira, who is better known for his right-arm leg-spin bowling was joined by another Berbice Under-15 cricketer in Shameer and together they took away what little hope Central Corentyne had by putting on 180 for the third wicket before medium pacer Kumar Sirikissoon had Shameer caught for 82 (11×4).

Pereira continued to soldier on and together with Nicholas Cameron (12), added another 30 for the fourth wicket, followed by an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 54 with Avinash Wajib (13*) steering Lower Corentyne to 330 for 4 in 40 overs. Bowling for Central Corentyne off-spinner Karamchand Ramnarine took 2 for 53 from 7 overs.

When Central Corentyne began their response, they were soon 6 for 2 losing both wickets to medium pacer Manoj Lokhnauth. Off-spinner Sharaz Ramcharran then took two more to leave them at 22 for 4.

Lakhram Paltu (20) and Kennard Gopie (9) put on a brave 34 for the fifth wicket but with National Under-15 left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie Kanhai and leg-spinner Wajib picking up two wickets each, together with two run-outs, Central Corentyne succumbed to 58 all out in 19.3 overs.

Bowling for Lower Corentyne, Sharaz Ramcharran took 2-11, Gudakesh Motie and Wajib 2-14 each and Lokhnauth 2-15.

Meanwhile, in the jointly-sponsored Ministry of Education/National Sports Commission/Guyana Cricket Board National Secondary School Under-15 40 overs cricket competition, Canje branch defeated the New Amsterdam Branch by seven wickets in their Inter-branch clash.

In the match which was played at Cumberland ground in Canje, New Amsterdam won the toss and, opting to take first strike, were soon shakily placed at 21 for 3, before Romario De Jonge who made 53, added 53 for the fourth wicket with Shemroy McKenzie (19) and a further 41 for the fifth wicket with Martin Singh (19), as New Amsterdam were bowled out for 126, after being 115-5 at the loss of Singh’s wicket.

Bowling for Canje, pacer Akeem Hinds took 3 for 10 from 7 overs and off-spinner Kevin Jawahir 2 for 29 from 8 overs and when they batted, Shimron Hetmyer and Michael Singh added 41 for the first wicket, before the latter had to retire hurt on 10 after being struck at the back of his head.

Hinds joined Hetmyer and they put on a further 56 between them before Hetmyer was caught for 59, which included 10 fours, but Canje eventually reached 128 for 3 in 23.4 overs with Akeem Hinds scoring 16 and Kevin Jawahir 19 not out.

Mohammad Yousuf retained as captain for Australia tour
… no place for Younis Khan in 16-man squad
PAKISTAN have left out Younis Khan from a 16-man squad for the three-Test series against Australia, beginning in late December.

Younis had not informed the selection committee or board of his availability for the series, having relinquished the captaincy and his place in the side after an ODI series loss to New Zealand last month.

Mohammad Yousuf, captain in Younis’ place, will continue to lead the team in Australia. Yousuf’s brief captaincy experience, incidentally, includes two Tests as leader on the 2004-05 tour to Australia; Pakistan lost both Tests though they were markedly improved from the side that lost the first Test at Perth by 491 runs under Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Yousuf also scored a fine hundred in the Melbourne Test as captain.

“Younis wanted to rest but he didn’t play in the domestic cricket since the one-day series against New Zealand,” chief selector Iqbal Qasim told reporters.

“He didn’t give his availability to us and therefore we did not select him.” Younis stepped away from the game after claiming he had “lost command” of the side, following months of strained relationships with a number of senior players.

Younis was Pakistan’s leading run-getter on their last tour to Australia, the start of a period in which he established himself as one of Pakistan’s most reliable batsmen at one-down.

Alongside Yousuf and Inzamam, he formed a formidable middle order, but Inzamam’s retirement and Yousuf’s time away with the ICL has weakened the batting considerably; a perpetually unreliable opening pair has added to the kind of woes seen in the current series with New Zealand, where only the Akmal brothers have had any consistent success.

Younis had a successful stint with South Australia last season as well and was expected to play a pivotal role with bat and his leadership if Pakistan were to harbour real hopes of winning a first Test against Australia in 14 years. Sources close to Younis insist this is not the end of his career and that he intends to make a comeback after the series but the former captain himself has said nothing so far.

There are few surprises elsewhere in the squad. Sixteen of the 18 players currently taking part in a three-Test series in New Zealand will go straight to Australia after the series is over. Only all-rounder Yasir Arafat and Sarfraz Ahmed, the back-up wicketkeeper, have been cut from the squad.

Questions may well be asked of the decision to persist with Khurram Manzoor as opener and the retention in the middle order of Shoaib Malik, currently in the middle of a horror run that has seen him score 46 runs in four innings in New Zealand. (Cricinfo)

Squad:
Mohammad Yousuf (capt.), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (wkp.), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Abdur Rauf, Umar Akmal.