El Dorado Inter-County final

Oct 03, 2008 Sports

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See the stars shine tonight at Providence

By Sean Devers

After below par performances in the preliminary round, Berbice and Demerara

square off from 15:00hrs today in the El Dorado Inter-County 50-overs final as the Guyana National Stadium at Providence host its first ever cricket match under flood lights.

The gates will be opened from 13:00hrs and the anticipated massive crowd could be in for a treat as they hope to see the stars from both teams shine tonight as Demerara, the El Dorado champions for the past two years put their title on the line at a venue where they beat Berbice in last year’s final.

With three Test players in their side along with former first-class batman Hoomchand Pooran who rarely fails at Inter-County level, Berbice have an experienced unit and starts today’s game with the psychological advantage after winning the preliminary game between the two sides at Blairmount last week.

Apart from the Test trio of Sewnarine Chattergoon, Narsingh Deonarine and Mahendra Nagamootoo, Berbice have the service of the Crandon brothers (Royston and Esaun), Pooran, Gajanand Singh, Assad Fudadin, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo and the genuinely quick Brandon Bess who has already played first-class cricket.

Paul Wintz, Ranga Lachigadu and Delbert Hicks are the only members of the

Berbice squad without senior Guyana team experience and Demerara will have to put enough runs on the board to give their suspect bowling attack a chance of defending it on what should bean easy batting track and fast outfield.

While on paper the Berbice batting is strong, a spirited Essequibo side pushed them hard at Wales and had Essequibo not wilted under pressure the last over win for Berbice could have gone the other way.

Demerara also put on an ordinary performance in their win against Essequibo at Everest and without the services of Test players Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul along with Travis Dowlin, the Demerara side is one of the weaker teams to represent the County in recent times.

The decision to not select the best wicket keeper in the county has already been exposed in the competition and it is being rumored that the Coach, former West Indies ‘B’ team player Rabindranauth Seeram is toying with the idea of using the versatile all-rounder Kellon Carmichael behind the stumps.

The problem is that Carmichael will have to share the new ball with Chris Barnwell, who along with off-spinner Zaheer Mohamed, are the only specialist bowlers selected in a team made up of batsmen who can bowl decent if not destructive spells.

The non-selection of 20-year-old former Guyana under-19 left-hander Vishal

Singh who recently returned from England is an indication that the best available players were not selected and unless Skipper Leon Johnson can show a marked improvement with the use of his bowlers and his own form, Demerara could be hard pressed to win in their own backyard.

The talented Johnson who played three ODIs for the West Indies in Canada recently, has struggled to readjust to the low and slow pitches here since his return from England and has failed to dominate although he got starts in both games.

In Barnwell, Demerara posses a genuine match-winner and if he gets going at the top of the order with the bat and finds able support from the elegant Rajendra Chandrika, Shemroy Barrington, Krishna Deosarran, Steven Jacobs, Orin Forde and Deon Ferrier, Berbice could be put under some pressure.

A knee injury ruled Ravi Sarwan (who made an unbeaten 46 in the first match) out of Demerara’s last game and his positive approach in the last half of the innings and his useful off-spin could be missed today if he is not fit enough to participate in this historic encounter.

Mohamed, Wicket Keeper Joseph Perry, Sauid Drepaul and Carmichael are all all-rounders and will need to ensure Demerara post a challenging total to compensate for their ordinary bowling attack.

The last time the two teams met in the final a tactical blunder let Demerara off the hook when Derwin Christian blasted them to victory as pace instead of spin was used in the last over.

Tonight, under the night sky of the East Bank Demerara, a pulsating contest could unfold if Demerara bat well and the crowd, which will be entertained by a top Sound System and the El Dorado girls in the Party stand, should have a rollicking time for an entrance fee of just $500.00.

The Guyana Cricket Board has spoken to the Transport and Harbours department and fans from Berbice can board the 03:00hrs Ferry from Rosignal to return to East Berbice after tonight’s game which should conclude with the presentation ceremony around 11:00hrs.

While food and drinks will be allowed into the ground spectators will not be allowed to carry weapons or glass bottles into the venue.

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