The Travis Dowlin-led Demerara team will open its defence of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Pepsi/Carib-sponsored Inter-County 20/20 competition against nemesis Berbice at the Blairmont Community Centre ground from 1pm today.
When the two sides met in last year’s competition, a splendid bowling performance from man-of-the-match Dion Ferrier (4-19) led Demerara to a five-wicket victory over the then defending champions Berbice, following victories over Essequibo and Berbice in the preliminary round.
There is no doubt that some of the national players who will be on show during this tournament will be looking to redeem themselves following Guyana’s early exit from the recently-held West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup competition here.
For Demerara, Dowlin, Christopher Barnwell, Dion Ferrier, Rajendra Chandrika and new face Gajanand Singh, who represented Berbice in the El Dorado Limited overs competition held earlier this month, will be looking to impress the national selectors.
Likewise, Royston Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin should have the same goal in mind when they turn out for the Ancient County in the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL)/Ansa Mc Al jointly sponsored tournament.
But, apart from those mentioned above, players of the calibre of Ravi Sarwan, Zaheer Mohammed, Krishna Deosarran, Shemroy Barrington, Kellon Carmichael and Sauid Drepaul for Demerara, along with Richard Ramdeen, Maxie De Jonge, Ranga Lachigadu, Quesi Maltay, Rajiv Ivan and Balram Samaroo should be aiming to get the selector’s nod for a place on the national team.
Unlike previous years, there is no place in the Berbice squad for national fast bowler Brendon Bess and Mahendra Nagamootoo whose performance in the recent regional tournament was being questioned by local cricket stakeholders.
Imran Khan and Andre Percival are also among the list of players who have not found favour with the selectors while Maltay, who can consider himself unlucky not to be included in the team for the El Dorado tournament, now has the opportunity to showcase his talent for the national selectors.
And Essequibo’s cricket which always seems to attract controversy on its team selection is again faced with the non-inclusion of national fast bowler Trevon Garraway and right arm leg spinner Rakesh Goberdhan.
According to the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) president and vice president of the GCB Alvin Johnson, the chairman of selectors told him that the criteria for selection on the Cinderella County team would have been the GCB/Gafoors 20/20 first division competition which is ongoing.
“Having heard same, I advised him that contrary to his feelings, whilst the said competition would have been used as a yardstick, same was not a criteria. Also Garraway cannot be treated like any other player, as he was not informed that it was compulsory for him to participate in that competition in order to be eligible for selection.”
Johnson added: “I requested to the chairman of selectors, to go back to his selectors and notify them of my decision, giving him two days notice. After doing so, I was informed that the selectors are sticking with the original team except for a few and after going to a ballot, the result was three in favour of Garraway and three against.”
Teams for the tournament read:
Demerara from: Travis Dowlin, Rajendra Chandrika, Christopher Barnwell, Gajanand Singh, Krishna Deosarran, Troy Gonsalves, Zaheer Mohammed, Maxwell Fraser, Dion Ferrier, Keon Carmichael, Sauid Drepaul, Steven Jacobs, Ravi Sarwan and Shemroy Barrington.
Berbice from: Esaun Crandon, Royston Crandon, Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine, Richard Ramdeen, Devon Clements, Ranga Lachigadu, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Quesi Maltay, Delbert Hicks, Paul Wintz, Balram Samaroo and Jonathan Foo.
Essequibo from: Norman Fredericks, Latchman Rohit, Ravi Beharry, Naveshal Pooran, Trevor Benn, Wayne Holder, Floyd Henry, Geewan Singh, Andrew Williams, Kevin Gordon, Rensford Beaton, Lashmikat Narine, Ryan Hercules and Roopnarine Persaud.
Tomorrow, Berbice and Essequibo will clash from 9am while Demerara and Essequibo will face each other from 1pm.
