Johnson, Jacobs excluded from Guyana 21-man training squad

Nov 24, 2009 Sports

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Shortened 1st Class season planned for next year

By Sean Devers
The national senior selection panel headed by Chairman Claude Raphael yesterday named a 21-man training squad as Guyana’s preparations for next year’s shortened Regional First-Class season begin next week with the encampment of the squad in the city.
The squad, picked mainly from performances in the just concluded 4-team Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) 4-day competition, includes the 4 Guyana players in Australia with the West Indies team.
The West Indies team is expected home just before Christmas since the third and final Test ends on December 22 while the ODI team should leave January month end for the One-Day and 20/20 series in Australia from February 4-23.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin should be available for the first 2 regional first-class games even if they are retained in the West Indies ODI squad.
Assad Fudadin who scored a double century in Essequibo, Vishal Singh, Rajendra Chandrika and Derwin Christian (who also kept for the Rest team) were the other batsmen to score centuries and were predictable picks in the 20-man squad while Deon Ferrier, who scored 3 half-centuries including 67 not out against Demerara and 58 not out against Essequibo to average 76 from 5 innings, is also in the squad, especially since he also took 11 wickets with his off-spin.
Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul had 3 five-wicket hauls, while his National spin twin, leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo took 2 and easily retained their places.
The selectors seemed to have lost faith in former West Indies youth captains Steven Jacobs and Leon Johnson and both have been excluded from the training squad.
Jacobs took 2 five-wicket hauls with his off-spin but should not expect his bowling to help elevate his career if does not contribute with the bat which is his forte.
Like Johnson, who has struggled for form since his West Indies ODI selection last year, Jacobs is still young and talented enough to bounce back once he remains focused and use this setback as motivation to improve his production of runs.
Essequibo and Police pacer Trevor Benn had a 5-wicket haul against Demerara and has been rewarded with a place in the training squad.
National under-19 Skipper Anthony Bramble scored an unbeaten fifty in his only innings in the GCB competition and is a competent if not outstanding keeper. With National and Berbice Keeper Delbert Hicks and Demerara glove-man Joseph Perry looking very ordinary behind the stumps in the GCB tournament, both Bramble and Christian have been picked in the squad.
National under-19 pacer Keon Joseph who is in the West Indies youth squad and Guyana under-19 team left-arm pacer Andre Stoll, who made his Demerara senior team debut last week, have both been included in the 21.
Last year 12 matches were played on a home and away format and the players’ salaries were increased by almost 300% and most of the players were eagerly anticipating another ‘long’ season next year.
A source close to the cash-strapped WICB board told Kaieteur Sports yesterday that some members wanted the longer format to be retained and had found a way to play the same 12 matches but spend less, since like last year, the competition is without a sponsor.
“The suggestion was that three matches be played in a single territory at the same time which would cut down on the cost of air fare since a team would play 2 matches in the same territory but this was discarded after much discussion. The proposal was for Jamaica to host the first two rounds involving six teams and six matches,” the source informed.
In the original fixture, Guyana was to face Trinidad and Tobago from January 8-11 and then CCC from January 15-18 in Jamaica before moving to Antigua for their next 2 matches. The South Americans were then scheduled to play in Barbados and Dominica before returning home for their last set for matches in the 7-team competition.
The WICB now plans to drop the double-round format and revert to a shortened version next year and it is understood that while the new fixtures are not yet official, they have already been circulated to the regional boards.
It is understood that the lack of money and the inability to find a sponsor has caused the WICB to abandon last year’s format and return to the system of previous years when each team played each other once, with a semi-final and final being played.
Guyana training Squad:- Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Rajendrika Chandrika, Assad Fudadin, Vishal Singh, Gajanand Singh, Esuan Crandon, Andre Stoll, Keon Joseph, Deon Ferrier, Royston Crandon, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo, Chris Barnwell, Brandon Bess, Trevor Benn, Derwin Christian, Anthony Bramble,

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