The Stanford Twenty20 tournament is over and it is back to four-day action for Guyana who will set out on the redemption trail today in the fifth round of the 2008 Carib Beer Cricket series against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the National Stadium, Pro-vidence.
Languishing at the bottom of the points table without any points from their three away games, Guyana will be looking to open their account against a team that endured mixed fortunes in their last two games of the competition.
The team will be boosted not only by home advantage but also with the inclusion of the dependable West Indies middle-order batsman Shivnarine ‘Tiger’ Chander-paul.
The bowling attack, however, will be without West Indies Under-19 left-arm orthodox spinner Veera-sammy Permaul who is suffering from a sore bowling finger and has been replaced by Devendra Bishu.
Guyana will, however, go into this clash with a revamped batting lineup and coach Albert Smith sad yesterday he was definitely looking forward to some improved performances from the batsmen.
“We have to look back at what we did and figure out where we went wrong in those matches. The batting is strengthened with the inclusion of Chanderpaul and Krishna Arjune, who will partner Sewnarine Chattergoon at the top. I am looking to see some positives coming out of this as it is imperative that we get some points from this game.”
With Chattergoon and Arjune at the top, Travis Dowlin, who was used as makeshift opener in the previous matches, can now settle down back in the middle order where he has proved to be a stubborn batsman to opposing bowlers, lending support to the two Test players in skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul.
Also in the line up are Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin, Esaun Crandon, Zaheer Mohammed and wicket-keeper/batsman Derwin Christian, who should put that last over debacle against Jamaica in the second semi final of the Stanford 20/20 competition behind him.
The team was blessed with some good weather in their preparation for this match and had two sessions per day minus Sarwan, who was receiving dental treatment overseas and Chanderpaul.
“Our preparation was good leading up to this game. Chanderpaul and Sarwan both came in on Tuesday and we got some support from the other bowlers who came and offered their assistance.
“Our only setback was the injury that Permaul sustained whilst he was with the West Indies Under-19 team in Malaysia,” Smith stated.
With the selectors investing in youth this year, there is no Neil Mc Garrell, Mahendra Nagamootoo or Reon King in the bowling line up which looked ordinary at times in their away games, which was of some concern to Smith.
“The bowling area will still be some sort of concern, but we have to work to a plan but we have to work to a plan and once we stick to that plan, there is no way we cannot be successful in this game.
“Permaul came in for Mc Garrell and did well and it is now Bishu’s turn. He (Bishu) has been around for a long time even before Permaul and it is his time to prove himself. He will also be adding a different variation to the bowling,” Smith added.
There should be lots of work for Crandon, Trevon Garraway and the lively Brendon Bess who will be going up against the likes of Floyd Reifer, the unrelated Jason and Nikolai Parris and Kurt Wilkinson who are all in the CCC line up.
Reifer is the foundation of the CCC team’s batting and they will be looking to him to continue to make the way for them.
Director of Sports at the UWI Cave Hill Campus, Roland Butcher, had earlier stated that the CCC team would get better with experience as the series rolls on.
“A few weeks ago we were playing our first match against Jamaica and we had seven players making their debut at this level. Most of the guys are between the ages of 20-25 and we look forward to better things from them in the future,” Butcher had stated.
In an invited comment, manager of the CCC team, Horton Dolphin, told Stabroek Sport that his team was ready and raring to go against the home team.
“We are looking forward to this game even though we are coming off a very disappointing loss against Jamaica in our last game. We will be using our win against Barbados as a morale booster. We also enjoy playing at the Providence Stadium where we always have a good game irrespective of who are our opponents,” Dolphin said.
He added:”Our batting is a very strong one with the likes of captain Shirley Clarke, Reifer, Wilson, Nikolai and Jason Parris and the hard-hitting wicket-keeper/batsman Chadwick Walton in the lineup.
“Simon Jackson can also hold his own with the bat, so the home team can definitely expect a fight against us.”
The CCC bowling attack will be led by Jason Bennet who took 11-105 in the win against Barbados, Jameel Noel and Gavesh Kantasingh.
Add new faces Gilford Moore and Kevin Mc Lean and the Guyanese batsmen will definitely have to apply themselves or stare down the barrel of a fourth defeat.
Teams (from):Guyana: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Travis Dowlin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Krishna Arjune, Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin, Darwin Christian, Zaheer Mohammed, Esaun Crandon, Devendra Bishu, Trevon Garraway and Brendon Bess.
CCC (from): Shirley Clarke, Floyd Reifer, Nikolai Parris, Jason Parris, Chadwick Walton, Jason Bennett, Simon Jackson, Kurt Wilkinson, Jameel Noel, Kevin Mc Lean, Gilford Moore, Gavesh Kantasingh, Craig Emmanuel and Boris Hutchinson.
Umpire: E. Nichols and K. Dowlath. Stand by-(D. Somwaru)
Play will commence at 10:00 hrs each day unless otherwise stated.
