THE Inter-County Guystac Cup cricket final has been washed out for the second consecutive year and Demerara has retained the Cup.
Only a part of the first day’s play was possible during which the reigning champions compiled 145-1 with national wicketkeeper Sheik Mohamed blasting 79 before he was out.
Nolan McKenzie was- 48 n.o. and Andrew Jackman 19 n.o. The national selectors will now have to shortlist players for trials if the weather is kind enough.
Should the rain persist, the selectors may have to rely on the experienced players at least for the first matches in next year’s Red Stripe Cup and Geddes Grant/Harrison Line competitions.
Clyde Butts seems the obvious choice for captaincy while Roger Harper is doing duty with the West Indies team in Australia.
The other players who are almost certain to be in the 18 the selectors may choose to shortlist are:— Clayton Lambert, Sudesh Dhaniram, Andrew Jackman, Rabindranauth Seeram, Calvin Burnett, Mark Harper, David Harper, Sheik Mohamed, Garfield Charles, Sydney Matthews, Barrington Brown, Linden Fraser, Linden Joseph, Nolan McKenzie, Nezam Hafiz, Paul Persaud, Jerry Angus, and Abdool Sattaur. Roger Harper and Carl Hooper will join the team on their return from Australia.
Should the weather hold the selectors may add to the squad Sean Devers, Arjune Nandu, Desmond Butts, David Fingal, Rudolph Latcha, Narendra Deola, Kawall Ramroop and Kenrick Pluck for the trial matches.
The date for the start of trial matches has not yet been announced nor has the itinerary for next year’s Red Stripe Cup and Geddes Grant/Harrison Line competitions.
The Small Businessman
Bobby – the ‘I Alone’ Fisherman
ARTHUR Albert Walters, popularly called Bobby, says he is Kitty’s oldest fisherman.
Bobby, who was born in 1914 disclosed that he started fishing in 1928. “In those days jobs were hard to get and fishing made a lot of money as the catches were more than they are today. In fact 1 think a fisherman in my days used to earn as much money as an overseer,” he said.
Bobby noted that through his job he was able to maintain his first and second wives and educate his eight children. He lives at 39 William Street, Kitty and he says that when he was younger he used to fish in a boat. “But you know time changes and people have to change with it so now with my age I do not think I can handle the rough sea in a boat,” he said adding, that at present he does the ”I alone” which means he drags a net along the seawall incline over which the Atlantic ocean washes.
‘The ‘I alone’ catches mostly shrimps but sometimes you will find a mixture of fish including Banga Mary in the net. I go once or twice a day to “sea” though that depends on the weather; when it bad I don’t go out to work,” Bobby explained.
He said his job is nice work and the type of tide determines the size of his catch. “Sometimes I sell it off right on the sea wall to people who would drive up in cars but usually my wife Elsie sells it in the Kitty market,” the fisherman said.
OLDER
He noted that once he was a good swimmer but “this is not so now as I am older and have been smoking since I was 18 and this gives me short breath.”
“However, I can handle myself and I know the sea walls very well. I never once fell overboard,” Bobby declared.
He remembered one time, when he was young and was dragging with some older fishermen around 7 o’clock one night. “They started talking about man-eating sharks and about how some ate some fellas and I became frightened, picked up my net and started to trek home. I was walking in some bush when suddenly I found myself far past Kitty and till by Bel Air hotel in a raging storm. I just couldn’t move from there so I sat on the wall till morning in the soaking rain shivering. I was sick for about three months after that,” Bobby recalled.
He said that years ago, the sea wasn’t as rough as it is now because then it had a sand flat. Now the flat is mud. He claims also that the catch is diminishing because of the amount of pollutants being poured into the Atlantic Ocean. “It is causing the shrimps to stay away from close to shore so that only the trawlers can now catch anything,” he noted.
He said that he and about four other fishermen drag during the washing tide, “but there is no conflict as we work in turns.” (L.J.)
Food prices continue to shoot up
A RECENT informal survey has shown that the prices of some essential food items have risen over 100 per cent and in a few cases by more than 300 per cent in the last year.
The survey was based on the wholesale prices of food ranging from fish and meat to peppers and vegetables in November 1987 and early November 1988. It was noted that the retail prices of the items checked would have reflected steep percentage increases.
A monitoring of the latest market prices by Stabroek News indicates that some recent price increases have been even more alarming. Within recent weeks, for example, chicken moved from $32 to $40 a pound, beef moved from $22 to $28 per pound and mixed fish from $8 to $16 a pound.
The same survey estimates that at least one balanced meal a day would cost a family of four $1300 per month Three of the sample menus set out in the survey are as follows:
Menu A: Cassava puffs, fried fish, cucumber salad, fruit salad and jamoon drink. The total cost is $33.91 which makes it $8.47 per person.
Menu B: Fish pie, cassava and calaloo, egg and tomato salad, banana custard and five finger drink. The total cost is $41.75 or $10.43 per person.
Menu C: A thick vegetable soup, ginger beer and baked custard, which costs $56,.00 or $14.00 per person.
During the year, the percentage price increases for some food items were: fish 64 pct. beef 56, chicken 37, eggs 122, cheese 77, prawns 87, margarine 20, cooking oil 46 and rice which was constantly in short supply during the last few months increased by 15 pct.
Some of these food items are presently in short supply at city supermarkets and housewives who can afford them have to buy on the blackmarket where the prices are even higher. (N.K.)