Local cricket felt the impact of the Novel Coronavirus for most of the 2020 season.
In a brief perusal, the pandemic resulted in an eight-month loss to the season but the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) made infrastructural strides and recovered with a final tournament post-COVID.
The year started positively with local franchise side, Guyana Jaguars, looking to win their sixth consecutive title.
However, when the virus reached the Caribbean in March, the West Indies Regional Four-day championship was curtailed to just eight rounds.
This forced the Jaguars, the defending champions, to surrender the title to Barbados Pride.
They ended third.
Also, in January, the GCB made two bold steps towards cricket development with the construction of two practice facilities. In Georgetown, the Everest Cricket Club, where the franchise team along with the Cricket Guy Incorporated Academy trained was chosen as one.
The facility was named in honor of former West Indies and Guyana batting icon, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Meanwhile, Parika Salem club on the East Bank of Essequibo was selected for the second facility and named after former GCB vice-president, Alvin Johnson.
February saw the successful staging of a one-day seminar for local coaches with a minimum Level One qualification by Cricket West Indies’ Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams as well as CWI’s first ever Coaching Education Manager, Chris Brabazon.
Later that month as Guyana celebrated its 50th anniversary as a Co-operative Republic, the Golden Republic T20 Bash was staged. This one-off match was birthed from a collaboration between the GCB and the Ministry of Social Cohesion’s Department of Sports and featured the biggest names in local cricket batting for G$1 million.
The contest saw Rutherford Renegades beating Hetmyer Hurricanes by eight wickets in front of a massive crowd at the National Stadium. Former Guyana Amazon Warriors captain, Rayad Emrit, bagged four wickets while Warriors’ opener, Chandrapaul Hemraj smashed an unbeaten 58.
Also in February, the GCB began preparation for CWI’s junior tournaments with the Dave’s West Indian Imports Under-15 Inter-County tournament. Berbice dethroned Demerara by two wickets in a low- scoring final match at Bourda.
Berbice completed an undefeated run having limited Demerara to 83 all out in 35.5 overs and reaching 87 for eight in 42.2 overs. Sanjay Algoo copped the Player of the Final award for his impressive 4-9 bowling figures.
Berbice captain, Rampertab Ramnauth, ended the tournament as the leading run scorer with 157 runs including a best of 94 while his teammate, Salim Khan, was the most prolific bowler with a dozen wickets.
From that tournament, a select Under-15 squad was selected to play in the GCB/Bel Air Rubis Under-17 Inter-County tournament. The Under-15s performed well but in the end Demerara copped the title.
Demerara played undefeated in the tournament, beating the U15s and Berbice by four and eight wickets respectively before handing Essequibo a 34-run defeat in the final round, compliments of a spirited 40 from Player of the Match, Mavindra Dindyal.
Later, due to the pandemic halting all sports, the Select Under-17 squad was not announced. Also, the Under-19 Inter-County competition was unable to be played.
March also saw Berbice winning the GCB/Superbet senior female Inter-County 50-over title. Despite winning by just one point, Berbice were undoubtedly the strongest team on show.
In the first round, Berbice piled up 412 for three in 37.4 overs with West Indies all-rounder, Shabika Gajnabi scoring 208, the first double century by a female in Guyanese history. Gajnabi also scored 52 in the final round as Berbice defeated Demerara by eight wickets.
Guyana was set to host the Regional Women’s T20 and 50-over tournaments but CWI was forced to postpone both tournaments as well as all junior tournaments and the regional Super50.
The effect of the pandemic crippled the finances of CWI and Guyana by extension and contracted players were forced to take salary cuts while the academy was forced to close its doors.
The Caribbean Premier League jump-started franchise cricket around the world and in the Caribean with the new norms of quarantining and extensive Covid testing setting the trend.
The unusual circumstances did not change the usual outcome for the Guyana Amazon Warriors as they yet again failed in their bid to win the trophy and instead were eliminated in the semi-finals.
Nevertheless, the GCB reignited local cricket with the staging of the inaugural GCB/Tropical Spring Over-40 T20 tournament. The tournament surpassed expectations with players, who many deemed past their prime, rolling back the years with exceptional performances.
In what was labeled a successful tournament in a post-COVID environment, Regal Masters defeated WD Masters by seven wickets to cart off with the $250,000 prize.
The GCB saved the best for last as the body ended the year with the unveiling of the revamped La Bonne Intention facility. The facility was under reconstruction for the better part of two years and is set to become the home of the Jaguars franchise.
With that over-40 tournament used as ‘a trial run,’ the GCB is set to hit the ground running in 2021. They have already scheduled a fitness test for the players and three practice matches for the Guyana Jaguars ahead of the Super50 tournament.
Guyana is also expected to have an Under-19 Inter-County tournament and a T20 franchise league in the first quarter of the year.
