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NATIONAL CRICKETERS participate in 1st practice session since RETURN
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
By Sean Devers
Although back in Guyana since last week Tuesday, the struggling national cricket team yesterday afternoon had its first practice session since their 5-wicket loss to CCC last week Sunday in Barbados.
The team, still without Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan who is still nursing a back injury, had a ‘net session’ at the Edinburgh ground in East Bank Berbice after the non-Berbice members of the squad arrived in Guyana’s 2nd largest county after lunch yesterday.
The 13-man quad which returned from Barbados with just 7 points from 3 matches including back-to-back defeats was yesterday joined by prolific Test left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, off-spinner Zaheer Mohamed and wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble for their preparations in Berbice.
Guyana will face Barbados in their 4th match at Albion from Friday and it is understood that the final 13-man squad for that game will be selected on Wednesday.
Another practice session is scheduled for today before the 3 players not picked in the squad depart tomorrow.
Zaheer Mohamed
The players, including the Berbicians are staying at a New Amsterdam Hotel and the team will have its final practice session on Thursday. Usually the Berbice players would stay at their respective homes when the team is preparing for a game in Berbice and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) must be commended for having the entire team stay together.
Chanderpaul’s finger injury, sustained during the Test series in Australia last year, has healed while Vice-Captain Assad Fudadin, who injured his finger during Guyana’s last match, should be ready by Friday although the talented left-hander still encountered some slight discomfort gripping the bat earlier this week.
Chanderpaul’s availability will be a welcomed one and his presence will not only strengthen the batting, already without Sarwan, Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine, but also influence a good size crowd for a competition which has attracted very little crowd support so far.
While Chanderpaul will be an automatic selection in the team, it will be interesting to see who the selectors will omit from the squad which retuned from Barbados. Left-hander Vishaul Singh who replaced Chanderpaul in the original squad which played in the historic first ever Day/Night First-Class match in Antigua, could lose his place to accommodate Chanderpaul.
Police pacer Trevor Benn, who is yet to make his First-Class debut, was an excellent ‘team man’ on tour and along with former West Indies player Gajanand Singh should retain their places in the squad after being left on the bench for the last game.
A source indicated that the selectors are toying with the idea of bringing in Mohamed for Benn, Bramble for Derwin Christian and Chanderpaul for Gajanand Singh. This would be a strange decision since while Christian’s shot selection has caused some concern his wicketkeeping was very efficient in the first 3 matches, while it would be unfair to drop Benn and Gajanand Singh without them being given a chance to fail.
The report from Skipper Sewnarine Chattergoon (who was troubled by a slight back problem in a match in Berbice on Sunday) and Coach Ravindra Seeram will be critical to the selection of the team for Friday’s match since none of the selectors would have seen the performances of the players in the overseas matches.
If Chattergoon’s back is not fully fit for the next game, West Indies under-19 left-handed opener Trevon Griffith could be drafted into the fray especially since Guyana has no realistic chance of winning their first title at this level since 2002.
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