Guyana’s Coach Esaun Crandon is hoping that his team can produce a home win and end on a high note in their final match against arch rivals Trinidad and Tobago in this year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional 4-day tournament starting today at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Speaking to Stabroek Sports yesterday on the eve of their final match, Crandon said that the team will be playing for a home win and to salvage whatever personal pride they can. “Apart from pride we have a lot to achieve personally and players are still asked to put their hands up in this last match.”
The coach lauded skipper Leon Johnson for his fruitful return to the side after missing a few rounds due to injury. The left-hander has so far recorded the lone century for Guyana, a classy 110 against Leewards in the previous round but in vain as the team eventually lost.
Apart from Johnson, Assad Fudadin who is out of this last round with an injury, is the team’s leading run-scorer with 273 runs from 5 matches with two half-centuries. He is followed by wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble who has 267 runs from 5 matches with one half-century. Despite these scores Crandon stressed that his upper order batters especially the openers must strive to convert their starts.
“Apart from the other players, we would like especially if the openers step up,” he also indicated that his fast bowlers will also need to take 5-wicket hauls in order to assist the batters. Earlier in the week Veerasammy Permaul and Chandarpaul Hemraj contracted chicken pox which eliminated them from today’s contest.
Their replacements, Devendra Bishoo and Vishaul Singh both had their share of ups and downs in the tournament. “Permaul will be missed but Bishoo is back he had some time to reflect and regain some much needed confidence and we will also be depending on Zaheer Mohamed who did a reasonable job with the ball last match, but apart from decent attack, execution and discipline will be the key,” said the Coach.
Guyana will face the dangerous Trinidadians who are fresh off from a 145-run thumping of Jamaica which propelled them into first place, but Crandon is optimistic and expects the younger players to use this final opportunity to step up and justify their selection.
Guyana will be playing for pride and seeking their first win against Trinidad whose batting department—with the expected return of Lendl Simmons and players like Adrian Barath, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Jason Mohamed and others—looks a dangerous unit.
Their bowling is led by the burly Shannon Gabriel who will complement the precision and variety of skipper Rayad Emrit and the slower options such as Imran Khan and others to form an effective unit.
Guyana on the other hand, will look to ride high on their skipper’s form while Bramble, Singh, Tagenarine Chanderpaul or Shimron Hetmyer, Trevon Griffith and Chris Barnwell who replaces the injured Fudadin, will need to provide the necessary results they are known for achieving with the bat.
The home team’s strength lies in their dangerous bowling unit led by Ronsford Beaton, Bishoo, Amir Kahn, Barnwell and Mohamed who should be able to effectively utilise the home conditions to strangle their opponents as shown in the previous rounds.
The match begins at 10 am at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
