Regional 4-day cricket (4th Rd) Guyana desperate to rebound against CCC

Jan 29, 2010 Sports

Assad Fudadin

Rajendra Chandrika

By Sean Devers in Barbados
In association with Carib Beer, Leisure Inn, Bryden & Fernandes & Caribbean Airlines

Struggling Guyana, without their four top batsmen, are desperate to rebound against the Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) from today at the Cave Hill Campus’ 3Ws Oval here and a lot will depend on their top order batsmen if they hope to return home next week still in contention for this year’s Regional 4-Day First-Class title.
Guyana finished ‘dead last’ in the competition last year and on the back of their crushing innings and 27-run defeat against defending champions Jamaica last Monday following their drawn match against Trinidad and Tobago in Antigua in their opening encounter, another loss or draw here will knock Guyana out of the race for championship honours.
With just 3 points from 2 matches, Guyana’s bowling have been steady but far from penetrative and both T&T and Jamaica amassed over 400 runs against the Guyanese bowlers who have badly lacked consistency this season.
While Narsingh Deonarine scored a magnificent unbeaten century in Antigua and Skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon and 20-year-old Rajendra Chandrika scored a fluent debut half-century in the inaugural Day/Night First Class match in Antigua, only Assad Fudadin reached fifty against Jamaica on a good batting track and with Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Deonarine and Travis Dowlin unavailable, the young guns will have to step up against a team which has lost their last 2 games outright.
Chattergoon and Chandrika will need to give their team a solid foundation while Fudadin is now a senior batsman in the side and will need to concentrate much harder after failing to convert 6 fifties at this level into his first hundred.
Chattergoon is slowly returning to form while Chandrika has impressed many with his classy stoke play although he has twice thrown his wicket away with recklessness and need to work on his temperament at the crease. The openers and Fudadin should be the mainstay of the Guyana batting while Royston Crandon, who played an ODI last year in South Africa, must produce with the bat at this level.
Derwin Christian has kept well but his inability to get big scores despite his obvious batting talent is becoming increasingly frustrating for his supporters at a time when the ability to mentally adapt and adjust to pressure situations is becoming a rarity in West Indies cricket.

Sewnarine Chattergoon

The initial omission of Chris Barnwell should have served as a wake-up call for the all-rounder who should realize that despite his natural talent his average of 24.62 without a century from 9 First-Class matches and a bowling average of 42.35 with 14 wickets is nothing to shout about. He and former West Indies under-19 left-hander Gajanand Singh, comes back into the squad to replace Dowlin and Deonarine and they should both play today.
At 23, Barnwell is one of the most promising all-rounders in the region but unlike players like Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Daren Sammy and David Bernard, he seems not to understand his role as a batsman and will need to get hundreds if he hopes to play International cricket.
His steady seam bowling will be welcomed by the Guyanese as back up for the quick but still erratic Brandon Bess who had 4 early wickets against Jamaica and the always hard working Esuan, who has lost some pace.
Gajanand Singh had a very good domestic season for New Line Cavaliers last year and like Barnwell, scored a ton in the national team’s practice matches and should get the nod today ahead of his unrelated namesake Vishaul Singh who just managed 24 and 13 in the first match.
If the Guyana top order can click against a CCC team without any real devastating bowlers, Christian, the elder Crandon and Albion spin twins Veerasammy Permaul and Davendra Bishoo (who shared a 58-run 9th wicket stand against Jamaica) have the ability to easily produce 200 runs between then at the bottom of the order on what should be a track with some bounce and pace and a fast outfield.
While Barnwell will strengthen the pace bowling attack, Bishoo and especially Permaul, who took 5-63 in the last game, will need to show a lot more patience and try to bowl a lot fuller and at times slower if they hope to be attacking, instead of stock bowlers in an era after Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil McGarrell produced consistent match-winning spells for their country at this level.
The absence of Deonarine weakens the spin attack and part-timers Royston Crandon, Gajanand Singh and Chattergoon could have some work to do as Guyana struggle to find a quality specialist off-spinner after the promise shown by Zaheer Mohamed only a few seasons ago.
Guyana has not won a title at this level since 2002 and those in charge of Guyana’s cricket must accept the reality that not enough is being done by the Administrators and players for player development, especially mentally as the inability of talented young players Leon Johnson, Steven Jacobs and Shemroy Barrington to even make a Guyana 21-man squad emphasizes.
CCC are on a low after being whipped by Barbados and the Windwards and they will be keen to show their first round win against T&T was no fluke at a time when many pundits, even WICB officials are questioning the structure and selection criteria of the CCC team. Players like Skipper and discarded West Indies Captain Floyd Reifer and leading bowler off-spinner Ryan Austin, both former Barbados players, are not even classroom students at any of the Universities in the Caribbean.
Recent Test opener Omar Phillips has been batting well for CCC and along with the experienced Reifer, who continues to show his inability and ordinary standard of bowling at the Regional level after failing to put bat on ball for the West Indies, should be Guyana’s major obstacles with the bat for the South Americans who had 3 practice sessions here since their loss before lunch last Monday.
Trevor Benn and Vishaul Singh could be the men on the bench today as Guyana hope to do better than in their last encounter against CCC.
On that occasion Reifer and Jamal Smith scored half-centuries as CCC reached 254 in their first innings at Bourda as Permaul took 4 wickets. Guyana, on the back of a superb 198 from Deonarine, a career best 93 from Fudadin and 51 from Dowlin, the hosts responded with 497 as Austin captured 3 wickets. CCC were 67-1 in their 2nd innings in the rain affected match in March last year.
Today’s match starts at 10:00hrs for Guyana who already occupies the cellar position in this year’s competition.