TCL Group regional U-19 three-day cricket

Jul 24, 2008 Sports

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Guyana battle T&T in key final round match-up

Defending Champs, T&T and Bajans in race for title

By Sean Devers in Barbados
In association with Digicel, TCL,
Pepsi, Smalta, Demerara Power Company
& Lifetime Realty

Defending champions Guyana, host Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago are in the race for the TCL Group regional three-day cricket title as the final round of competition begins today with three matches.

Leaders Barbados, with a three-point advantage over Guyana, face reigning one-day champions Jamaica at BET while the Guyanese, on 31 points, battle Trinidad and Tobago, who have 24, at Lester Vaughn in a crucial encounter.

Jamaica were denied an outright win in a tense draw against Guyana in their last match and can no longer win the title but a final round win for the Jamaicans will spoil the Bajans hopes of clinching their first title since 2002.

Even if Barbados lose outright but take first innings points and T&T beat Guyana outright the host will win their ninth title and first since TCL took over sponsorship in 2003 with a one point lead.

If Guyana beat T&T outright and Barbados don’t win outright the Guyanese will claim their 12th title and third in successive years, while if T&T win outright and Barbados lose outright the lads from Carnival country will lift their eighth title and first since they won in 2005 in St Vincent.

Add the possibility of rain to the mix and a fascinating final round is anticipated with the Windward and Leewards also playing each other to avoid ending in cellar position.

Guyana, the most dominant team in the 40-year history of regional youth cricket, will hope for consistency in their batting and a solid opening partnership and could tinker with the notion of asking out-of-form Vice-Captain Royan Fredricks to bat in the ‘middle’ and Dilon Heyliger or Seon Hetmyer to open with Trevon Griffith.

Senior pacer Leon Scott should be back after a one game rest due to a sore back and could replace left-arm spinner Totaram Bishun who has had a lean time with the ball on the good batting pitches here.

There is some concern in the Guyana camp that 16-year-old Keon Joseph, arguable the quickest bowler in the tournament, could be carrying a slight hip injury, while an assessment on Jeetendra Sookdeo’s injury will be done this morning before the start of play.

Pacer Keyron Fraser had a long bowl in the nets and also batted well. He could make his debut if either Scott or Joseph is not fully fit today while Royston Alkins could also make his debut if Sookdeo is not passed fit to play in the final round.

Guyana crushed T&T by nine wickets when the teams last met in St Kitts last year despite an attractive 92 from first-class opener Adrian Barath and the South Americas will be mindful of the threat the West Indies under-19 player could again pose.

Barath is one of nine centurions in this year’s tournament but he has not been at his best and T&T will hope that he can lead from the front.

Evin Lewis scored 112 against Jamaica in the first round, Barath’s 121 was made in the third round while Kjorn Ottley scored 109 when T&T scored their first outright win against the Windwards in the last round to keep their title hopes alive.

These three, alone with opener Akeil Cooper could play a crucial role with the bat for T&T against a Guyana three-prong pace attack supported by off-spinner Herman Latcha, left-arm spinner Skipper Eugene LaFleur and leg-spinner Jonathan Foo.

Barath and Ottley are the only players in the Trinidad and Tobago side who played in last year’s competition.
LaFleur has shown great leadership qualities and his level-headed batting has produced two vital half-centuries including a responsible 85 against Jamaica to help save the match for Guyana in the last match.

Jeetendra Sookdeo hit fifties in both innings in the first match while Griffith and wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble are the other Guyanese to reach 50 in an innings as the top order batsmen perished consistently to injudicious shots.

Hetmyer and Foo, among the five players in the side from last year’s team, have been major disappointments with the bat and will want to come good on a track which is expected to be good for batting with some early pace and bounce.

Trinidad and Tobago will want leg-spinner Yannick Cariah who bagged 8-70 in the last round to produce another such performance in a tournament in which the spinners have done very well in conditions traditionally conducive to fast bowling.

Guyana will want Jamaica to prevent Barbados from achieving an outright win but they will know that while they could hope for help from the Jamaicans and even the adverse weather that has affected this  competition, their responsibility is to beat T&T outright to ensure Guyana achieve their third hat-trick of titles in this competition following their six in a row from 1992-1997.

While the pitches have not been as lively as expected, the crowd support has been poor and general standard of cricket has been uninspiring, the final round of action could present enthralling competition as the top three teams battle for championship honours.

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