GFF Super League 2nd round kicks off tomorrow

Aug 21, 2010 Sports

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Alpha, Sunburst Camptown, GDF, Seawall, Liquid Gold & Rosignol in action

By Franklin Wilson

Defending Champions Alpha United will have one at the back of their minds when the second and final round of the Guyana Football Federation Super League competition sponsored by FIFA under the Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF Initiative swings into top gear tomorrow at two venues.
Alpha, just off another tournament victory when they edged East Demerara’s Victoria Kings 2-1 to win the Super 8 knockout competition will be aiming to win the League yet again.
They have the fire power so to do and their opponents for tomorrow’s feature game, West Demerara’s Seawall United, who are at the bottom of the table with 4 points, can expect a torrid time against ‘The Hammer’.
The main strike force for Alpha in Anthony Abrams and Dwain Jacobs will relish the opportunity to get some valuable practice ahead of next week’s Inter Guiana’s Club championship against the top clubs from Suriname and French Guiana respectively along with the GDF.
Alpha’s defence is rock solid with National captain Howard Lowe at the helm as Captain. Valuable support will come from Kelvin McKenzie, Quincy Madramootoo, Shawn Bishop, Edison Gomes, Gordon Henry, Chris Camacho and Ronson Williams just back from the GFF All Stars Game in London standing between the uprights.
Seawall FC has endured a torrid first round and will be seeking to rebound in a big way in this final half of the League or face relegation for the next League.
This West Demerara outfit has a number of talented players who are yet to step up to the plate and stamp their authority. The likes of Garlon Lewis, Delon Josiah, Zevon Atkinson, Toine Lopes, Marvin Griffith, Adami Hoyte who form the nucleus of the team will have to step it up in order to lift their side form the bottom flight. An interesting clash can be expected, Alpha are in pole with 23 points as opposed to Seawall’s 4.
Tomorrow’s opening game at the GFC Ground from 18:00hrs promises lots of fireworks with Sunburst Camptown coming up against the Guyana Defense Force, the latter whipping the former 4-1 to take the third place in the Super 8 tournament on Sunday last.
It was the first time in a very long time that the Army got the better of Camptown and the Campbellville boys will be seeking to return the favours tomorrow.
Their challenge will centre on veteran midfielder Try ‘Bugs’ Prescod, Orlando Gilgeous, Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington, Leon Muir, Adrian Adonis, Kwame La Fleur, Delon Johnson, Devon Forde, Tito Adams, Lance Rolston and Richie Richards in goal.
GDF on the other hand, like Alpha will be seeking valuable practice ahead of next week’s Inter Guiana’s Club Championship and will be looking to make it two in a row against Camptown. Peter Parks and Telson McKinnon who both netted a brace each against Camptown on Sunday last will be in high spirits for this mouth watering clash.
Delroy Deen, Marlon Benjamin, Royan Morrison, Ryan Adolph, Eusi Phillips, Delon Younge, Clement Brown, Seon Prince, Warren Gilkes, Stellon David and Shavane Seaforth will combine as they seek to deny the Sunburst boys victory. Camptown though, are ahead of the GDF on the points table 16 to 13 points.
Tomorrow’s other encounter is set for the Bartica Community Centre Ground between West Berbice’ Rosignol United, on 17 points and the home team Liquid Gold who are languishing on 7 in the penultimate spot of the 10 team competition.
Rosignol has been performing with a good level of consistency during the League and will love to step up that consistency with an opening win against the home team tomorrow.
The Berbicians will depend on the likes of Roncy Caleb, Newt Mahaica, Sherwyn Lewis, Delwin Fraser, Cornel Taylor, Olvis Mitchell, Joel Singh and Delbert Wilson to take them to a convincing win.
Liquid Gold is usually a tough unit playing at home and once they were hard at training in the past weeks, Rosignol can be in for a tough time.
Leading the home team’ quest for at least an even share of the points are Rondel Washington, Hamley Martaindale, Kwesi Jacobs, Rayan Ramkarran, Cleon Adams, Vernon John, Whitney Welcome, Travis Garraway and Lonsdale Prowell. Kick off time is 18:00hrs with full support expected from the home crowd. Two games were scheduled for the Enmore Ground tomorrow but had to be rescheduled due to the unavailability of ground.
The other teams in the tournament and their points are, Milerock (15), Buxton United (12, Victoria Kings (11) and Bakewell Topp XX (8).
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Benn, Sammy in line for enhanced central contracts

Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn and allrounder Darren Sammy are in line to receive enhanced central retainer contracts for 2010-11, Cricinfo has learnt. The contracts are up for renewal next month – 15 players will benefit, as opposed to the current 14 – and the review process underway has identified Benn and Sammy as the two who have improved over the previous season.
Sammy holds a category B contract while Benn holds a C. The WICB Cricket and Selection Committees met recently to review the performances of all the players on WICB retainer contracts and it is understood these two are the only players with improved performances, though the board’s decision will not be based on on-field performance alone.
Sammy has had an impressive 2010 mainly in Twenty20 cricket, with a five-for against Zimbabwe, an average of 14.95 at a relatively tidy economy rate of 6.24. He’s averaged 39.25 in ODIs this year, the highlight being a brutal, unbeaten 58 against South Africa in Antigua where he belted two fours and six sixes in a 24-ball knock.
His improvement, compared to 2009, especially in ODIs, has been significant. He averaged 70 with the ball last year and 24.62 with the bat.
Benn has had his share of disciplinary problems this season, requiring the match referee’s intervention during the tour of Australia last year and the home Test series against South Africa this year.
But he’s been one of West Indies’ more consistent performers in the same period. He grabbed 15 wickets in the three-Test series against South Africa, including two hauls of five wickets or more in an innings, and has developed as one of West Indies’ main strike bowlers.
In 2009, he played nine Tests averaging 41.37 as opposed to 30.66 in three Tests this year.
The WICB said it is in the process of finalising the selection criteria – to be made public – that would be part of a policy document intended serve as a guideline for picking West Indies teams in the future. Ten other players will be offered developmental contracts for the same period.
The players on WICB retainer central contracts for 2009-10 are: Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan. Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Dave Bernard, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach.
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Cush helps America beat Argentina

USA and Italy promoted to Division 3 in Hong Kong

United States of America (USA) and Italy will participate in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 (WCL Div. 3) tournament in Hong Kong next year after the Americans defeated Argentina and Italy beat Tanzania yesterday in Bologna to secure promotion.
Nepal defeated the Cayman Islands by seven wickets thus relegating the Caribbean team out of the league and maintaining its own position in WCL Div. 4.
The WCL provides a clearly defined pathway towards the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 as all Associate and Affiliate teams receive the opportunity to progress and develop as they take part in qualifying events against similarly ranked teams around the globe.
The USA face host Italy today in the Final before their Guyanese all-rounder Lennox Cush, who scored a valuable half-century, returns to his homeland in South America on Monday to join the Guyana team preparing to participate in next month’s Champions League 20/20 in South America.
The USA’s final match of the group stages did not begin according to plan for Steve Massiah who had elected to bat having won the toss. Argentina’s Gary Savage and Agustin Casime struck early reducing the side to three for three in just 1.2 overs.
Savage claimed the key wickets of Sushil Nadkarni and Orlando Baker dismissing both Americans for ducks while Casime removed the captain for one. Carl Wright and Stephen Taylor both fell for ducks and the challenge of adding to the total fell to Cush, Aditya Thyagarajan and Rashard Marshall.
The arrival of the 35-year-old Cush steadied the ship for the USA. Cush’s 58 came from 54 balls before he was taken at point.
The decisive moment of the innings came with the partnership of Thyagarajan and Marshall who both claimed centuries for the team. The pair managed a huge seventh-wicket partnership of 205 when the innings came to a close, Marshall smashing his way to a stunning 122 in 84 balls.
The South Americans had a mildly better start to its innings against its North American rivals but Usman Shuja bought the side down to earth, dismissing Pablo Ferguson and Carlos Gibson in successive balls.
The innings did not get much better as the batting line-up collapsed to 30 for six after just 8.5 overs before they were dismissed for 110.
Former Berbice and Guyana medium pacer Kevin Darlington, Adrian Gordon and Shuja shared the major spoils of the bowling to complete a miserable week of losses for the Argentines. “I knew that once I’d settled in with Lennox and then later with Rashard that we were well on our way to making a good total but it was by no means an easy game; the Argentines had effectively nothing to lose and came at us with everything they could when it came to their bowling.
“Ultimately the victory is sweet and it’s great to know we’ve qualified for Division 3 in Hong Kong. We’re by no means the complete package though and we’ll go back to the US after the finals to make sure we’re fully prepared for Hong Kong at the end of January” said Man-of-the-Match Thyagarajan.
Scores: USA 306-6, 50 overs (Cush 58, Thyagarajan 102 not out, Marshall 122 not out; Savage 3-61)
Argentina 110 all out, 27.2 overs (Francis 32, L Paterlini 27; Darlington 3-21, Shuja 3-33, Gordon 3-25).

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