The Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) SVC/Precision Services Inc. sponsored Inter-Association T20 culminates today with highly anticipated action in the final and third-place matches slated for the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) Ground on Lance Gibbs Street.
Opening today’s double-header will be the East Bank Demerara Eagles who will take on the East Coast Canje Pheasants at 9 am in the third-place playoff. The Eagles have had decent performances in the latter stages of the tournament and will be strong favourites to finish third.
Longstanding all-rounder Ricky Sargeant will play a key role for the Eagles with bat and ball while pacer Leon Swamy and Budan Baksh will also look to turn in good performances.
Meanwhile, former Test batsman and captain of the Canje Pheasants, Rajendra Chandrika will want to be on song with the bat at the top of the order if his side is to stand a chance. Chandrika, along with Nicholas Shiopersaud, Robin Williams, Sachin Singh, Nizam Khan and others should be a formidable lineup as they seek to upset the Eagles. In the final, the best team of the tournament to date, the undefeated Georgetown Cricket Association Panthers will look to stamp their domineering brand of cricket against the West Demerara Jaguars.
Openers Shemroy Barrington and Raymond Perez along with all-rounders Johnathan Van Lange and Chris Barnwell will make for a fearsome batting core while the GCA Panthers will also rely on their in-form bowlers Dwain Dick, Ronaldo Ali Mohamed, Devon Lord and Steven Sankar to strangle the Jaguars.
On the other hand, the West Demerara Jaguars have found their form heading into the business end of the tournament and will look to their skipper Akshaya Persaud to lead from the front if they are to topple a strong GCA team.
Persaud with his lieutenants Richie Looknauth, opener Ushardeva Balgobin and Sheldon Alexander will have to bring their ‘A’ game with the bat, while they will depend on Mahendra Dhanpaul and company to do the trick with the ball.
The final bowls off at 1PM.
