El Dorado Inter-County cricket today at Everest

Sep 26, 2008 Sports

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Demerara aim for intoxicating batting display

– but Garraway says host will be put under early pressure

By Sean Devers
The battle lines have been drawn. There has been plenty of chat from the

Captain and Coach and an intoxicating Demerara batting display is anticipated today at Everest as the host aim to ‘drunk Essequibo with shots’ in the opening round of the El Dorado senior inter-county 50-overs cricket competition.

But on what should be a slow track and good outfield Essequibo Captain Trevon Garraway, the Guyana first-class pacer who plays his cricket in the city for DCC, says action speaks louder than words and feels Demerara will miss their senior batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Travis Dowlin against an Essequibo team which is brimming with confidence.

Both Skipper Leon Johnson, Guyana’s newest West Indies player, and the 47-year-old Rabindranauth Seeram, the former West Indies ‘B’ team stroke-player who played 42 first-class for a decade from 1982, feel the defending champions are a well-rounded side with plenty of batting firepower.

However, the 24-year-old Garraway who played the last of his nine first-class

matches this year, says Essequibo have their best chance of reaching the final since the team is well prepared, have a strong batting line-up and have been very competitive in the recent past in One-Day cricket with some very close matches against both Demerara and Berbice.

Essequibo has not won a game at this level in 14 years and their last win against Demerara was back in 1980.

“We are very confident! We practiced in Georgetown yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday) and we have some very talented youngsters who looked good in the nets. We plan to put Demerara under early pressure tomorrow (today) and we know they will miss their top batsmen.

Dowlin scored a hundred last year to dig them out of a hole and we know we have our best chance of winning this year,” Garraway said.

This might be all talk to hype up his players but if Essequibo can get a good start from the experienced 28-year-old Denesh Joseph who has been playing at this level before any other player in the game and the attacking left-handed Yogeshwar Lall against a Demerara new ball attack which lacks potency despite the presence of the immensely talented Chris Barnwell, a pulsating contest could be expected.

Joseph has been potentially Essequibo’s best batsman for years but now with the decision to pick him ahead of talented national under-19 opener Norway Fredericks, he will need to step up with big scores and today will be a good time to start.

All-rounder Kellon Carmichael could share the new ball with Barnwell and against a spin-based attack, Norman Fredericks, Wayne Osborne, Rakesh Goberdhan and new comers Geewan Singh, Mahase Richards and Navishal Pooran will need to run aggressively and find the gaps on the large ground to keep the scoreboard ticking if the boundaries are not coming.

While Garraway feels the batting is his team’s strength, the bowling also looks competent in the one-day game against a team with plenty of natural shot makers and if Johnson, who played three ODIs last month, falls cheaply the game could be blown wide open.

Garraway will have fast bowling support from Trevor Benn (arguable the most energetic cricketer in Guyana) and former Guyana youth pacer Ryan Hercules.

Against the likes of Barnwell, Shemroy Barrington, Rajendra Chandrika, Johnson, Steven Jacobs, Orin Forde, Deon Ferrier, Ravi Sarwan, Zaheer Mohamed, Sauid Drepaul and wicketkeeper Joseph Perry, the Essequibo bowlers could expect a tough day at the office but if their spin quartet of off-spinner Andrew Williams, leg-spinner Goberdhan and left-arm spinners Robert Moore and debutant Andrew Wong can pitch on a track which should turn, today’s affair could be a ‘ding dong’ battle.

When these two teams last met, Demerara won at the Stadium last year in a game reduced to a 20 overs per side encounter and today the Demerara selectors will have the added headache of deciding who to omit.

Jacobs, Forde, Ferrier and Sarwan are all specialist batsmen who bowl off-spin while Johnson is also a competent leg-spinner.

In the one-day scenario the axe could fall on Mohamed (the best off-spinner in the country) Drepaul (who can also bat) and new comer Carew.

Admission is free and while underdogs Essequibo are usually left punch-drunk at the inter-county level, Demerara’s task could be much harder than they think when the match begins at 09:30hrs.

Both teams have plenty of talent but a critical factor today should be the psychological superiority between the players.

In this regard, the Demerara lads are far more mentally tough and this could be the underlining difference in today’s contest as the teams begin their historic journey to Guyana’s first day/night final on October 3 at the Stadium.

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