Following a request from the official sponsors of the West Indies Under-15 Tournament, CLICO, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) conferred with the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and received the green light for the tournament to be played in Trinidad.
And, according to a release from the GCB, it was the sponsors who requested that the tournament be switched to its home base (Trinidad) in this the final year of its sponsorship deal with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
The only change from the original itinerary is that the competition will now conclude one day later on April 13 instead of April 12.
In a telephone interview with Stabroek Sport, president of the Guyana Cricket Board, Chetram Singh said that the board will suffer no financial loss because the games are free but there may be a slight concern with hotel bookings.
Singh added that knowing the situation that CLICO (Trinidad) is in he was not going to deny the sponsors their last request because had it gone to the WICB it could have been moved by the hierarchy there.
The GCB selectors Thursday announced a 14-man squad that will seek to wrest the regional under-15 title from defending champions Jamaica.
The tournament, which was played in Dominica last year from March 15-24 saw the Jamaicans whipping Barbados in the final.
The squad will be managed by Elroy Stepheney and coached by Adrian Amsterdam and was selected after intense competition among the youngsters, starting from the inter-zone competitions and culminating with the national inter-county competition which saw Demerara skillfully defending their title against their 2008 nemesis Berbice.
The squad is made up of seven members of the successful Demerara team, four from Berbice and three from Essequibo and they will do battle from April 4 when the competition starts. The 50-over competition comes to an end on April 13.
The Guyana team – From Demerara: Shaquille Williams, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Sunil Rupee, Brian Sattaur, Christopher Surat, Dinesh Mangal and Kareem Naughton:- From Berbice: Kevin Ramdeen, Gukalesh Motie Kanhai, Omesh Dhaniram and Veerapen Permaul. From Essequibo: Ricardo Adams, Vijay Surujpaul and Mark Tyrell. The junior selectors have also named six standby players in Mohan Ramdeen, Fiazal Karim, Rajendra Dasrat, Karamchand Mohabali, Bisham Deolall and Mark Anthony Rigby.
According to the GCB the squad was encamped from Thursday at the GCB Hostel in Alberttown. The team will do battle today at the Providence National Stadium where they will take on a Barbados under-17 team.
The 50-over affair will bowl off at 9.30am.
Meanwhile the new fixtures for the CLICO WICB U-15 tournament have been released and the Guyana contingent, which will depart for Trinidad on April 4, will go into action on April 6 against last year’s finalist Barbados.
In Guyana’s second match they will face defending champions Jamaica on April 7.
Following a rest day the teams will be back in action on April 9 with Guyana taking on the hosts Trinidad and Tobago.
There will be no play on Good Friday but play resumes on April 11 with Guyana against the Windward Islands.
The tournament concludes on Easter Sunday with Guyana taking on the Leeward Islands.
The team is expected to return home on Easter Monday.
