TCL Group regional U-19 One-Day cricket

Aug 01, 2008 Sports

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Guyana battle T&T today for place in second

successive final

Champions Jamaica must win big to advance
By Sean Devers in Barbados

After an emphatic victory against the Leeward Islands in the opening round of the TCL regional under-19 one-day cricket competition on Tuesday, Guyana battle Trinidad and Tobago today at Queens Park for a place in their second successive final.

Defending champions and favorites Jamaica must win big against the Windward Islands in their game today to edge ahead of three-day title holders Barbados into the final after rain washed out their match against the hosts, who finished with six points from two matches.

There is the possibility of rain but a win today or even a no-result, will guarantee Guyana, the losing finalist last year in St Kitts, a place in tomorrow’s grand finale.

Trinidad and Tobago and defending champions Jamaica are the most dominant teams with three titles each from the previous eight tournaments but both teams suffered at the hands of the weather as they collected just two points from their washed out opening games on Wednesday.

Today, T&T, two points behind Guyana’s four, are missing six of their original players; including leading spinner Yannick Cariah due to disciplinarily reasons and must win to reach the final. They will depend heavily on their first-class skipper Adrian Barath at the top of the order.

The accomplished right-handed West Indies under-19 opener made 96 against Guyana in the three-day competition last week and along with Evin Lewis and Kjorn Ottley, who like Barath scored tons in the three-day format, will need to produce with the bat on what should be a good bating surface if the team from the Twin Island Republic is to post a winning total.

When the two teams last met in this competition Guyana registered a close six-run win in a game which went into the final over after Barath (10) and Kjorn Ottley (19), the only surviving players from last year’s team, fell cheaply.

Ottley’s younger brother and T&T’s under-17 skipper Yannick looks a bright all-round prospect and as one of the six replacement players from the under-17 team will want to contribute with the bat in the lower order.

Pacer Hakeem Mitchell showed he is a pugnacious hitter with his attacking unbeaten 62 against Guyana in the last three-day match and the Guyanese should be wary of his ability.

Mitchell, Sheldon Dogan, Akeil Cooper, Yannick Ottley and Omeshwar Ramoutar could be hard pressed to restrict Guyana’s scoring if openers Royan Fredricks and Trevon Griffith get off to another ‘flyer’ and Seon Hetmyer, the only Guyanese to score a century in the three-day version gets stuck in at number three.

Fredricks has not done his talent justice so far but his last two innings suggest that he could finally show his true potential.

The naturally talented Jonathan Foo is now high on confidence after his magnificent 87 against the Leewards in Guyana first-round one-day game and if he again gets going he could destroy the opposition with his explosive style.

Dilon Heyliger is also a fierce hitter and with astute Skipper Eugene LaFleur, are well equipped mentally to hold the middle order together.

With the addition of wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble and pacer Keon Joseph, who are capable of quick runs, the T&T bowlers could be in for a tough day at the office.

Joseph is the quickest bowler in the competition but at 16, he still is learning to add the art of swing and control to his repertoire.

He and his West Berbice teammate Keyron Fraser will hope to remove Barath early with the new ball and the talented Fraser in particular will want to redeem himself with a ‘tight’ spell today after nervousness seemed to get the better of him in his debut on Tuesday.

If Jeetendra Sookdeo is passed fit to play then Fraser could find himself out of the side along with Leon Scott who is still not fully fit and Totaram Bishun.

Off-spinner Herman Latcha is Guyana’s most successful bowler and his control in the last match was wonderful to watch as he and left-arm spinner LaFleur pinned the batsmen down during the power-play overs.

Against T&T batmen better equipped against spin, the spin twins, along with medium pacers Heyliger and Hetmyer (who dismissed Barath last year) will need to be ‘spot-on’ as Guyana hunt their first ever one-day title since the competition began in Trinidad in 1998.

Guyana’s positive batting and aggressive running in their first round game was mainly responsible for making them the only team with a 300-plus total so far.

If Guyana’s confident batting was refreshing, their inability to once again ‘finish off’ the tail-enders is a worry.

But after an effective ‘net’ session at the Kensington Oval yesterday, Coach Hubern Evans is confident that his charges can compensate for surrendering their three-day title by winning the one-day Trophy.

As Guyana attempt to cross the penultimate hurdle on the road to championship honours knowing that Jamaica, their biggest challenge if there is a repeat of last year’s final, could be eliminated on run-rate.

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