-52 called to trials
Following the persistent rainfall over the last week, the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) Under-19 Compet-ition has been cancelled.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, Chairman of the Competitions Committee Raymond Barton said that they have decided to call 52 players to trials. According to Barton, along with fellow ECCB Selectors Hardeo Sattaur, John Hardat, he will assess the players at a net session today at the Lusignan Community Centre (LCC) from 9:00 to 15:30 hours. At the end of the net session, the squad will be narrowed down to 28.
Tomorrow a 50-over match will be played at the LCC between the selected 28 players, Barton added. “They will be put into two teams of fourteen each with all of the players on each side having a chance to show of their skills,” Barton stated. “Each player will have a chance to impress the three selectors on hand,” he added.
Following the trial match, the selectors will then come up with a squad that will contest the Demerara Inter-Association U-19 competition, which will feature teams from the East Coast, East Bank, West Demerara and Georgetown.
This competition is being used to select the Demerara U-19 team that will take part in the Inter-County U-19 Competition which is expected to get under way on April 16. “We will be selecting fourteen players and four standbys for the (German’s Restaurant and W & H Rambarran Marine sponsored U-19) competition,” Barton stated. The competition, which was scheduled to bowl off today, has also been delayed by the rain during last week. The tentative date now set for the Inter-Association Competition to bowl off is April 8. The first two matches for that day will feature East Coast against East Bank at Lusignan and West Demerara against Georgetown at Everest. Meanwhile, the ECCB Under-19 Competition which got under way last weekend with thirteen teams in action was not what Barton expected. Peeved, he said that only six of the nine matches scheduled were played and up to yesterday he was still to receive the proper score sheets from the games.
This is a problem that Barton said he would be looking to have ironed out when the next ECCB competition is held, as it is unfair to players looking to be selected. The competition organized by the ECCB saw some 18 teams from the East Coast registering to take part. Only ten of those teams were able to play any form of cricket.
Barton stated that the main reason for this was that all of the grounds were not in pristine condition and last Wednesday the ground would have been put in order. However, the rainfalls which started on Tuesday put a damper on this causing the competition to be called off.