Today’s final will bring the curtain down on the competition which commenced on November 11 with 11 teams contesting games in venues all across the country.
th the competition being used to pick Guyana’s squad for the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament next January, the GCB under the guidance of competition organizer/director Robin Singh decided to move away from the traditional Demerara vs. Berbice vs. Essequibo rivalries and split the counties intothree teams along the two selected sides (GCB President’s XI and Young Conquerors), in an effort to give the national selectors a chance to look at every single player in the nation.
Both the Pitbulls and moreso the President’s XI, defied the odds en route to eliminating strong Berbice teams Mario’s Pizza West Berbice Super Kings and Church’s Chicken Corentyne Titans in the semi-finals on Wednesday by 29 and 19 runs (Duckworth/Lewis method) respectively.
The President’s XI victory over the Titans was easily the bigger triumph, given that they disposed of the Titans side who had a plethora of established Berbice players in their ranks such as Assad Fudadin, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine, Royston Crandon, Jonathan Foo, Anthony Bramble, Rajiv Ivan and Stephen Latcha.
The enormity of the victory means they will be no pushovers for an equally strong Pitbulls side which possess some of the better Georgetown players in their set-up.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, President’s XI manager Robert “Pacer” Adonis articulated the mood in his camp ahead of today’s finals.
“We had a small net session at Bourda this morning (yesterday morning) where the guys under the instructions of coach Reon Griffith mainly did fielding drills.
“Overall, regardless of the win in the semi-final I am not making any major predictions on what we could do in the final,” the former national fast bowler said.
He added:”The mood in the camp is good and the boys are confident we can give a good account of themselves,” said Adonis.
As aforementioned the Pitbulls outfit with some of the more notable players from Georgetown such as Captain of the West Indies Twenty 20 player Christopher Barnwell, Leon Johnson, recently selected West Indies Twenty20 ‘keeper Derwin Christian, Steven Jacobs, Dion Ferrier and Totaram Bishun will be banking on their experience to take them to victory.
Bishun the diminutive left-arm wrist spinner who has been in top-form in the last two games, on traditionally spinner-friendly Albion surface, is likely to be key player in today’s final.
Georgetown Pitbulls squad: Christopher Barnwell (captain), Trevon Griffith, Derwin Christian, Wasim Haslim, Steven Jacobs, Dion Ferrier, Kellon Carmichael, Leroy Bristol, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Troy Gonzalves, and Carl Rambharose.
GCB President’s XI squad: Vishaul Singh (captain), Norman Fredricks, Abilash Dookie, Jason Sinclair, David Dick, Elton Baker, Leon Scott, Jason Heyliger, Amir Khan, Ronsford Beaton, Eon Hooper, Jeetendar Sukdeo, Zaheer Mohammed, Renrick Batson, and Delon Heyliger.
