Arch-rivals Berbice and Demerara are both within reach of winning the Guyana Cricket Board’s senior Inter County limited overs competition which will climax today with the final two matches.
Berbice will face the unbeaten Demerara at the Everest Cricket Club ground while Essequibo has another shot at that elusive victory when they play the President’s XI at the Demerara Cricket Club ground in Queenstown,
Both games begin at 9.30am.
Demerara won their two opening matches and one more victory will ensure them the title while Berbice is still in with an outside chance of a title triumph if they defeat Demerara by a considerable margin.
Berbice started the tournament with a loss to the President’s XI and were in dire straights in their second match against Essequibo before Clinton Pestano literally hit them to safety.
With that impressive turn around the Berbicians will be a much more confident side heading into the final round, especially with players vying for positions in the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board Regional Super50 tournament set to commence on February 9.
Batsmen Assad Fudadin and Gajanand Singh will be eager to make an impression in the tournament for Berbice as the pair has so far underperformed in the first two matches while Demerara will be wise not to get complacent in the final round with the title at stake against the defending champions.
For Demerara, medium pacer Paul Wintz has so far picked up eight wickets in the competition and another strong performance will add to his credentials for a return to national colours while openers Shemroy Barrington and Rajendra Chandrika will also be keen to earn spots in the national side for both the Regional Super50 and the First Class 4 Day competition, both of which will begin in February.
The Essequibo team will be keen to avenge their two losses when they play the President’s XI, who notched up a victory over Berbice. The President’s XI will have a chance to win the tournament as well if they beat Essequibo by a sizeable margin. However, their heavy loss to Demerara will make that task a little more difficult.
Essequibo will rue their loss to Berbice as they had reduced them to 5 for 38, chasing 174 in 30 overs, and will be looking to avoid the embarrassment of losing all three matches. The unrelated Ricardo and Anthony Adams will be keen to press for spots in the national team, while for the President’s XI Brandon Bess will be eager to make an impression as one of the fastest bowlers in the region, since he has already represented the West Indies at the Test level.
The President’s XI squad is expected to be the only one retained for the Four-Day Inter County Competition scheduled to start this week while the other three squads face the possibility of being altered as potential candidates for the West Indies Cricket Board’s First-Class Four-Day competition will be given the opportunity to play the longer format.
