By Marlon Munroe
Cricket’s nursery of players will clash in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) NALICO/NAFICO 50-over tournament that bowls off today with defending champions Georgetown taking on West Demerara at Canal No. 2 and East Coast Demerara playing East Bank Demerara at Providence ground.
The fifth edition of the tournament that was launched on Tuesday is aimed at developing the talent of Guyana’s youth players. Rep-resentatives of the company at the launch said that it was important that the youths are given a platform for them to perform at a competitive level.
Each association has to produce 20 under-15 players to the DCB before the commencement of the tournament. A monetary fine of $5,000 will be instituted on any team that fields over-aged players.
Yesterday, teams carried out their final practice sessions at their various sub-association grounds. And, according to feedback from the West Demerara under-15 lads they are eyeing success in the competition.
In an e-mail, vice-president of West Demerara Cricket Association Rovin Stanley wrote that the president Anand Sanasie met the players before one of the team’s practice sessions and he expects them to be successful in this year’s competition as a result of a recent inter-club competition played in the region.
“Selectors were able to select the team with some confidence as they would have seen most of the players in action in the New Line Aqua Farm under-15 competition in which Wales and Cornelia Ida would be vying for top honours on February 27 at the Canal # 2 Sports Club ground,” Stanley wrote.
The final 11 to compete against Georgetown will include players who represented West Demerara in the recently-concluded schools’ championship.
On the other hand Georgetown coach Garvin Nedd said that the strength of his team lies in the all-round ability of many of his players. He also said that he has stressed the building of partnerships and running between the wickets.
He indicated that he has been focusing on the ironing out some of the minor technical difficulties with the players but has been trying to avoid changing their styles considering such a short period to the beginning of the tournament.
The last round of the round-robin tournament is billed for February 24 while the final is set for February 26. Georgetown team: Pravindralall Persaud (Captain), Tajenarine Chanderpaul, Martin Pestano-Bell, Andrew Gibson, Vishaal Narayan, Terrence Alstrom, Kumar Singh, Steven Sankar, Dexter George, David Mohammed, Devon Lord, Prince Roberts, Dorian Best and Anthony Bowman
West Demerara team: Chandrika Persaud, Khemraj Rupee, Brian Puran, Akshaya Persaud, Kawson Joseph, Kevin Paul, Michael Matura, David Blair, Robindra Rooplall, Beepaul Bandoo, Rafeek Nazeer, Krishna Kumar, Narsingh Basdeo, Suraj Boodramlall, Cornalius Dhaneshrie, Daniel Basdeo, Reaz Khan, Narendra Singh, Khemdat Singh, Ramesh Persaud.
East Coast Demerara: Brian Sattaur (Captain), Kamesh Yadram, Vivian Albert, Owen Andrews, Doodnauth Singh, Davanand Dass, Rajendra Baskar, Damian Waldron, Wazim Khan, Vickram Sukhai, Travis Persaud, Oridi Reid, Nkosi Williams and Ryan Chichester.
East Bank Demerara: Govinda Mondram (Captain), Sheldon Chapman, Rudolph Jaikissoon, Darren John, Daniel Barker, Stephon Persaud, Nicholas Chisolm, Ryan Fredericks, Michael Forrester, Jeewan Shawnmangal, Stephon De Caires, Tishon Persaud, Nicholas Barker, Kevin Plant, Nateram Teekaran, Govinda Ramkissoon, Alex Kissoon and Addel Salim.
