When the Guyana national cricket selectors sat down recently to name the two sides for this week’s practice match to help them arrive at the Guyana Harpy Eagles side which will contest Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-Day Championships a number of names were missing.
Notably, longstanding national captain, Leon Johnson, fast-bowlers, Keon Joseph and Clinton Pestano, all-rounders, Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford and Quinten Sampson as well as Shimron Hetmyer and Steven Sankar were all listed as unavailable by the Guyana Cricket Board.
The GCB did not see it fit in their release to give reasons why the players are unavailable.
However, in the case of Paul and Shepherd, this newspaper understands that they are down to participate in the 2023 T20 league in South Africa.
However, apart from those mentioned above, one glaring omission is that of left-handed middle order batsman Vishaul `Cheesy’ Singh.
Since his debut in the 2008-2009 Regional First-Class season, Singh has gone on to become one of the more dependable batsmen in the Guyana Harpy Eagles batting line-up.
In the 2015-2016 season Singh scored back-to-back centuries scoring 150 against the Leeward Islands and 121 against Barbados.
He subsequently played three test matches for the West Indies but fell out of the rotation.
Last year, however, only Singh, West Indies opening batsman Tagenarine Chandepaul and off spinner Gudakesh Motie managed to score centuries in the four-day competition where Singh was one of few batsmen from the Harpy Eagles side to average over 50.
Having completed their fitness assessment last week, the Harpy Eagles will continue their 2023 West Indies championship preparation with two warm-up matches.
The first four-day fixture will bowl off from Thursday while the second will begin from January 17 from 9.30 hours to 16.30 hours daily.
The two sides boast a plethora of youth players and will see the teams being led by the lastest Guyanese to make his Test debut, Chanderpaul and veteran left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul.
Permaul will have the services of West Indies `A’ wicketkeeper batsman, Tevin Imlach and out-of-favour West Indies seamer, Ronsford Beaton as well as former West Indies under-19 players, Matthew Nandu, Kevlon Anderson, Ashmead Nedd and Isai Thorne. First-Class players, Akshaya Persaud and Nial Smith along with Rampertab Ramnauth, Shamar Yearwood, Junior Sinclair, Richie Looknauth and Garfield Benjamin.
Meanwhile, Chandrapaul will led a more experienced squad with the likes of Kemol Savory, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Anthony Bramble, Gudakesh Motie, Kevin Sinclair, Antony Adams and Demetri Cameron, all of whom have featured at the First-Class level. Young guns in Mavendra Dindyal, Alvin Mohabir, Shamar Joseph, Sylus Tyndall, Jonathan Rampersaud and Zynul Ramsammy complete the squad.
The first two rounds of this year’s West Indies Championship will be played in Grenada and Antigua from February 1-4 while the final three rounds will be played in Trinidad.
The two teams identified to participate in the first GCB Four-Day Practice match were selected by the GCB’s Senior National Selection Committee under the Chairmanship of Ravindranauth Seeram.
