…Solomon to lead Demerara
The lone two-day under-17 trial match organized by the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) to select their team to contest the upcoming Guyana Cricket Board/Clico-sponsored 2008 under-17 Inter-County two-day competition ended in a tame draw at the Everest Cricket Club ground yesterday.
Solomon’s XI led by Dexter Solomon who has been chosen to lead the Demerara team in the tournament were 98-9 from 41.4 overs when play was called off with skipper Solomon leading the way with an accomplished 35 made from 65 deliveries and decorated with three fours.
They were batting a second time after reaching 168-6 from their first innings allotment of 65 overs, to which Shameer Fazal’s XI replied with 176 all out from their 65 overs after being 78-7 at one stage.
In Solomon’s XI first innings, opener Quincy Ovid blazed his way to 42 (2×4) and received support from Arif Habib who made an unbeaten 32 with two fours while Keon Franklyn and Kamal Ramkissoon each made 23.
Habib and Franklyn added a valuable 51 runs for the sixth wicket to help rescue their team against the bowling of left-arm swing bowler Andre Stoll who claimed 2-21 on the slow track on Thursday.
Stoll returned with the bat to make an unbeaten 53 which included three fours and two sixes and helped to rescue his side with valuable support from national under-15 captain Kwame Crosse who made 32 (1×4) as they shared an important 55 runs ninth wicket partnership.
As if he intended to rub salt into the wound caused by the partnership between Crosse and himself, Stoll who struck both Shaquille Williams and West Indies under-15 left-arm leg-spinner Amir Khan over midwicket for sixes, was joined by Raj Nanan and they added a further 33 runs for the final wicket which enabled their side to take a lead of eight runs.
Skipper Shameer Fazal made 17 while Rajiv Singh who would later on be unfortunate not to be selected in the 14-man squad, made 14 as Kamesh Yadram (2-10), Royston Simon (2-17) and Seon Daniels (2-30) were the principal wicket takers.
In their second knock at the wicket, Solomon’s XI found the bowling of Delroy Charles (3-5), Ricardo Devers (2-7) and Poorandra Jaigobin (2-17) too much to handle and were it not for the efforts of Solomon and Ovid who featured in a 35-run eighth wicket partnership, they would have folded quickly.
The two came together with their team precariously placed on 51-7 and batted sensibly to see them to 60-7 at tea with Solomon on nine and Ovid four. After tea, they both opened their shoulders for brief periods, with Ovid hitting medium pacer Carlos La Rose over long on for six, while Solomon struck Jaigobin back over his head for four before he saw the demise of Ovid (13, 1×6) who was smartly stumped by Crosse off the final delivery of the over.
Solomon (35, 3×4) was then adjudged lbw off the fourth delivery of Jaigobin’s next over at 16:00hrs which was the last wicket to fall as stumps were pulled, allowing for the home team to conduct their net sessions.
After the game, the junior selection panel led by former national fast bowler Robert ‘Pacer’ Adonis and his fellow four selectors who had earlier met and selected the 14-man squad made the announcement to the players, some of whom were crestfallen.
The Dexter Solomon led squad reads: Dexter Solomon (captain), Quincy Ovid, Kamal Ramkissoon, Shameer Fazal, Dayanand Roopnarine, Arif Habib, Keon Franklyn, Kwame Crosse, Ricardo Devers, Amir Kahn, Madha Dhanpaul, Seon Daniels, Andr4e Stoll and Kamesh Yadram.
They were four standbys named in national under-15 left arm spinner Raj Nanan, Delroy Charles, Dellon Fernandes and Kevin Ogle.
Raymond Barton will serve in the capacity of manager, while Gavin Nedd who was the coach when Georgetown won the DCB under-17 Inter Association competition earlier this week will serve in the same capacity for the Demerara team.
Demerara will begin their quest for championship honours when they oppose Essequibo in their first game at the Enterprise Community Centre one week from today under the guidance of umpires Zakie Zakier and Andrew Allen with G. Sukhdeo as the standby official.
