A review of the just completed Hand-In-Hand Inter-County Under-19 tournament where Berbice retained the three-day title but lost the 50-overs to Demerara will show that generally the batsmen struggled to produce good performances while the spinners revelled mostly due to poor batting technique by the batters.
With rain badly affecting the three-day competition this analysis will mainly take a look at the 50-over format especially since the Cricket West Indies Regional Under-19 tournament is expected to be played in the one-day format.
However, it will also encompass a few stand out players and a few key moments in the three-day tournament.
One of the outstanding players in the two competitions was undoubtedly Junior Sinclair, the eventual Most Valuable Player.
Sinclair was the linchpin of the Berbice side’s batting ending the three-day tournament as the leading run-getter with a total of 374 runs to add to his 11 wickets from his off-spin and three dismissals in the field.
He also scored four half centuries.
The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club all-rounder was trailed by fellow opener Alex Algoo with 356 runs.
Algoo scored the only century of the tournament, 175 against the Select Under-17s.
Despite the century, Algoo was less convincing throughout the tournament with five single figure scores.
The batting woes were highlighted in the three-day final round between Demerara and Berbice with Demerara bowled out for 60 and 58 with Berbice making 54 and 65-5 and lift the title.
Against the Select Under-17 Berbice were also contained to 127 in their first innings but commendably mustered 404 in their second innings.
Essequibo were ill-prepared to put up a fight in the competition, rolling over for first innings scores of 75 against Demerara and 62 against Berbice.
In the bowling department, left-arm spinner, Kelvin Umroa took 31 wickets with five, five-wicket hauls at an economy rate of just over two.
The West Indies Under-19 selectee has shown his ability to win matches for his side and maintained a consistent performance that made him one of only two players to live up to expectations in the tournament, the other being Sinclair.
In the shorter format, Sinclair again led the way with an aggregate of 179 runs including two half centuries.
Only three other batsmen managed to tally over 100 runs, Demerara’s Adrian Hinds (130) and Alphius Bookie (133) and the Select Under-17’s Andre Seepersaud (107).
Kevlon Anderson scored 95 runs from his four innings while Sachin Singh’s brisk 48 in the final saw him closing on 82 runs.
The Select Under-17s, who featured in the final last year, gave a less convincing performance this time around with only a few players carrying the team.
Missing most of the matches was Sheldon Charles who left the squad to write exams.
Matthew Nandu (56), Mavindra Dindyal (71) and Sarwan Chaitnarine contributed with the bat in the 50-over matches while Nandu and Chanderpaul Ramraj were the main bowlers.
Lance Roberts was the only consistent batsman for Essequibo with 72 runs while Kevin Christian and Orlando Jailall scored 47 and 38 runs respectively.
Christian had only managed 98 runs while Jailall had tallied 145 runs in the longer format, underlining the poor performance from the Essequibo side which failed to win a match.
Garfield Benjamin and Seon Glasgow gave decent account of themselves throughout the two formats with tallies of 190 and 153 runs respectively batting in the lower order.
In contrast to the batsmen, the spinners reaped rewards from turning wickets, particularly Daniel Mootoo, who is eligible for the Under-17 team but was not included in the side.
Mootoo, representing Demerara, bagged nine wickets.
Essequibo off-spinner, Amit Persaud was the leading bowler and arguably a surprise to many, taking five wickets in the format to add to his 14 wickets in the three-day format that included six-wicket hauls against Demerara and Berbice.
Like Persaud, Demerara’s off-spinner Joel Spooner has been one of the better all-rounders on display with five wickets in the 50-overs to go with his 17 wickets in the three-day version and his tally of 100 runs.
Ashmead Nedd has also had a decent season with seven wickets and 67 runs in the shorter format, solidifying the left-arm spin dominance along with Umroa, Mootoo and Nigel Deodat who took 15 wickets and scored 110 runs across both formats.
The seamers struggled heavily with Anderson grabbing 11 wickets while Qumar Torrington, one of the fastest bowlers at this level, took seven wickets in the limited overs competition. Leon Swamy took six wickets.
With just three left-arm seamers in the mix, Christopher Harry was easily the fastest of the lot while Diquan Bamfield got the ball to do more off the surface.
Based on performances, Stabroek Sport has selected a probable 14-member squad for the upcoming tournament where Guyana will look to defend their title.
Probable Guyana Under-19 squad: Sachin Singh, Ashmead Nedd (captain), Kelvin Umroa, Kevlon Anderson (vice-captain), Junior Sinclair, Adrian Hinds (wk), Alphius Bookie, Joel Spooner, Qumar Torrington, Garfield Benjamin, Alex Algoo, Kevin Christian (wk), Daniel Mootoo/Nigel Deodat, Diquan Bamfield/Leon Swamy.
