Selectors of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) have included Guyana National Industrial Corporation’s (GNIC) middle order batsman Shawn De Souza for the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Carib/Pepsi four-team Twenty20 cricket tournament that begins next Friday at the Guyana National Stadium.
De Souza, after a good season with Sweet Revenge in Trinidad & Tobago, is the lone newcomer in the Demerara side that will first play defending champions Berbice from 19:00 on the opening day of the round robin tournament.
In the first match, which starts at 15:00 hours, Essequibo will play the Rest Team while the final and third place games will be played on December 10.
The Demerara team, which is somewhat depleted, will be without the services of Shivnarine Chanderpaul who is fulfilling his duties with the West Indies team in Sri Lanka. And it is not yet known whether national captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lennox Cush will be available for the tournament since they should be competing in the US Open T20 tournament in Florida.
The Carib/Pepsi tournament will be used to select Guyana’s team for the second Caribbean T20 tournament in January.
Chairman of Selectors Robert ‘Pacer’ Adonis has also included in the team left arm spinner Totaram Bishun, who is likely to operate with Zaheer Mohammed or Amir Khan.
The team’s batting will fall on the shoulders of Travis Dowlin, the aggressive Christopher Barnwell and Wasim Haslim, De Souza and wicketkeeper/batsman Derwin Christian.
Trevon Griffith, Deon Ferrier and Gajanand Singh have been confined to the reserve ranks.
Demerara squad: Travis Dowlin, Chris Barnwell, Steven Jacobs, Wasim Haslim, Derwin Christian, Andre Stoll, Trevon Garraway, Zaheer Mohamed, Totaram Bishun, Shawn De Souza, Jamal Hinckson, Amir Khan, Lennox Cush, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Leon Johnson.
Reserves: Trevon Griffith, Vishaul Singh, Deon Ferrier, Kellon Carmichael, Shemroy Barrington, Gajanand Singh, Joseph Perry, Raj Nanan and Andrew Light Jr.
