By Calvin Roberts
Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) and Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar will square off in the second semifinal of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/ Carib Beer/Pepsi-sponsored Twenty20 first division cricket competition at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, today.
The Steven Jacobs-led MSC side will be looking to pull out all stops to turn back the challenge of the Esaun Crandon-led Berbice-based side. To this effect, he will be hoping that his front line batsmen bat responsibly and post a huge total so that his bowlers can have a go at the Rose Hall Town batsmen.
The Thomas Lands-based MSC batting will be hinging on Jacobs, who recently was a part of the West Indies under-19 team as the vice captain in the Youth World Cup in Malaysia, Shemroy Barrington who can tear apart any attack on his day, and Danny Narayan who was in fine form in the Georgetown Cricket Association first division final against GNIC last weekend. Add the inaugural Guyana/Stanford 20/20 stars in Orin Forde and Dion Ferrier along with the veteran Neil Barry, who showed the younger members how to counter attack spin bowling in their semifinal encounter against East Coast; add former national wicket keeper Kenneth Wong and batting all rounder Randy Lindore to the fray and Crandon and his men will certainly have a huge task on their hands.
The city side’s bowling rests in the hands of former national under-19 fast bowlers Jeremiah Harris and Denroy George who are expected to share the new ball. With slow bowling playing a vibrant role in this form of the game, Rose Hall will have to find a way to counter the spin of Jacobs, Ferrier, Forde, former national under-19 Clive Andries and left arm orthodox Damian Van Tull.
However, RHTWSB’s batting should be a force for MSC to reckon with as they will be on a high following their 10- wicket triumph over Port Mourant in their Sprite- sponsored 20/20 competition on Sunday.
In that match, Crandon with 52 and wicket keeper batsman Delbert Hicks with an even 50 spurred their team to 107 without loss which meant that national middle order batsman Assad Fudadin along with his brother Abdel will be hungry for some runs.
Former national under-19 captain and senior middle order batsman Andre Percival will be looking to reignite the form he displayed in the inaugural Stanford 20/20 competition for Guyana and with Berbice under-19 batsman Eon Hooper, Renwick Batson, Khemraj Mahadeo, Jason Sinclair and Troy Matheison in the batting lineup, a keen and competitive encounter can be anticipated.
The bowling department will be handled by Crandon, Batson who both shared the new ball in the match against Port Mourant, Assad Fudadin, Percival, Ravi Narine and young Lionel Lewis.
Teams for this encounter which begins at 13:00hrs are:
Malteenoes from: Steven Jacobs (Captain), Shemroy Barrington, Imran Hassan, Dion Ferrier, Orin Forde, Neil Barry, Danny Narayan, Clive Andries, Randy Lindore, Damian Van Tull, Kenneth Wong, Denroy George, Jeremiah Harris.
Rose Hall from: Esaun Crandon (Captain), Assad Fudadin, Andre Percival, Abdel Fudadin, Khemraj Mahadeo, Renwick Batson, Jason Sinclair, Eon Hooper, Troy Matheison, Ravi Narine, Terrence Madramootoo, Clive Henry and Lionel Lewis.
