Moore is lone Guyanese in CCC Regional One-Day squad

Oct 21, 2009 Sports

Pacer interested in playing for Essequibo

By Sean Devers

Twenty-seven year-old First-Class player Gilford Moore is the lone Guyanese in the Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) 14-man squad for the WICB President’s Cup (50-over-a-side) championship in Guyana , October 28 to November 5.

The Essequibo-born pacer who plays in the Barbados division one competition for the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill Campus) was not named in the original Barbados dominated squad which arrives in the next Monday.

The Barbadian pair of fast bowler Jason Bennett and all-rounder Jamal Smith have been replaced by Moore and 2008 Trinidadian under-19 all-rounder Kjorn Ottley.

Gilford Moore

Moore has played 2 First-Class matches and a solitary Regional One-Day game and made both his First-Class and One-Day debuts against Guyana at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.

The towering fast bowler took 0-24 from 4 overs as Chris Barnwell, Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin scored fifties to lead Guyana to a 4-wicket win against CCC last year November in the last Regional One-Day competition and is looking forward to again playing on home soil.

“All the players will be back for this so I am looking forward for the challenge,” Moore told Kaieteur Sport from Barbados.

This is expected to be a very competitive competition since the WICB has mandated all players to participate if they want to be available for selection for the Australia tour and while the pitches in Guyana are not conducive to pace Moore said he has mentally adjusted to what is required on the flat South American tracks.

“With the new ball I will try to get some movement off the seam and in the later part of the innings use a lot of variation. The pitches will not offer the kind of help like the ones here in Barbados but playing here has helped me to be more consistent and increase my pace and I am ready for the challenge of bowling to the best batsmen in Region,” said Moore who is doing Accounting at UWI.

The quickie, who finishes University next year, says if he gets the opportunity to play for Essequibo in the 4-day Inter-County competition he would love to do so and plans to officially inform the Essequibo Cricket Board of his interest when he gets to Guyana.

Essequibo lost the Demerara in the opening round and will play against Berbice and the Rest team in the final 2 games next month and Moore’s inclusion could strengthen an already strong pace attack spearhead by Trevon Garraway and Trevor Benn.

Even without Bennette and Smith, there are seven Barbadians in the CCC squad from Barbados and three more on the stand-by list prompting many to refer to the Floyd-Reifer led side as a Barbados 2nd X1.

Barbadians Anderson Sealy, Stefan Gooding and Jamar Griffith – are among the four reserves. The other is Delorn Johnson of St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

The left-handed Reifer, who struggled miserably with the bat and lost all three Tests and 6 ODIs as Captain of the makeshift West Indies team, will be eager to redeem himself with good scores in this competition after stating his availability to continue as Captain of the regional team even when the senior players return.

The CCC squad:
Floyd Reifer (captain), Omar Phillips, Kurt Wilkinson, Nekoli Parris, Ryan Austin, Khismar Catlin, Kevin McClean (Barbados), Romel Currency (St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Windward Islands) Simon Jackson, Chadwick Walton, Gavin Wallace (Jamaica), Kjorn Ottley, Kavesh Kantasingh (Trinidad & Tobago), Gilford Moore (Guyana).

Reserves:
Anderson Sealy, Stefan Gooding, Jamar Griffith ( Barbados ), Delorn Johnson (Windward Islands).

Officials: Floyd Reifer (player/coach), Horton Dolphin (Manager), Steven Leslie (Assistant Manager), Andrew Simpson (Physio/Trainer). NB: All of the officials apart from Dolphin, a Guyanese who has lived in Jamaica for many years, are Barbadians