Demerara selectors name 18 for El Dorado Inter-County tourney

Sep 05, 2008 Sports

Travis Dowlin

Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Cush unavailable due to Stanford 20/20 commitments

By Sean Devers
After the completion of two trial matches, the Demerara senior selectors yesterday named am 18-man squad to prepare for this year’s El Dorado Inter-County 50 overs cricket competition which bowls off on September 27.
The Demerara team, which face Berbice in their opening game on September 28 before playing Essequibo at Anna Regina in the final round on October 1, will be without Test batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan while National all-rounder Lennox Cush is also unavailable.
According to Chairman of the Demerara selectors Michael Khan, the trio were not considered for selection since they are scheduled to be involved in a six-week training camp in Antigua from September 16 as they prepare for the US$20 Million dollar winner take-all 20/20 match between the Stanford Super Stars and England on November 1.
Khan also disclosed that Guyana’s newest West Indies player Leon Johnson is among the players who are presently overseas playing professional cricket who have contacted him. He informed that once the left-handed Johnson returns from his English league duties in time for the three-team Inter County competition, he will be accommodated in the Demerara team.

Totaram Bishun

National batsman Travis Dowlin should captain the side and three practice matches are planned for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the Everest ground being the possible venue.
There are no major surprises in the 18-man squad although players like National under-19 batsman Vishal Singh and former Guyana youth team pacer Jeremiah Harris could consider themselves unlucky that they could not return home from their English season in time for the trial matches which were used to pick the team.
Shaheed Gittens, Deon Carew and Maxwell Fraser are the new comers to inter-county cricket and earned their call-up owing to good performances in the trails while talented former Guyana under-19 pacer Kwasie Nedd returns to high level competition after a series of injures had put his cricket on hold.
Ravi Sarwan, the former national under-15 batsman and younger brother of Ramnaresh Sarwan is also in the squad which include just four persons with first-class experience.
In yesterday’s final trial match, Shemroy Barrington made 47 and got support from Orin Forde (34) and Avinash Sookdeo (23) as Dowlin’s X1 reached 203-9 off 50 overs.
Steven Jacobs took 2-4 from four overs of off-spin while Travis Blyden and Steven Alves also had two wickets each for Krishna Arjune’s X1 who were 168-8 off 41 overs when the game was called off.

Chris Barnwell

Ravi Sarwan top scored with 47 while Chris Barnwell made 24 as Gittens took 2-31 in a match in which three stupendous catches from Dowlin stole the show despite the batting of Sarwan and Barrington.
The Demerara 18-man squad read:- Travis Dowlin, Chris Barnwell, Shemroy Barrington, Kelon Carmichael, Joseph Perry, Ravi Sarwan, Kwasie Nedd, Shaheed Gittens, Deon Carew, Zaheer Mohamed, Rajendra Chandrika, Orin Forde, Krishna Arjune, Krishna Deosarran, Totaram Bishun, Sauid Drepaul, Steven Jacobs and Deon Ferrier.