Guyana battle T&T tonight at Providence

Aug 28, 2010 Sports

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T&T arrive for battle! The visitors are about to leave the Cheddi Jagan International Airport yesterday morning.

Cavalier and Berbice face-off in opening game

By Sean Devers

Caribbean 20/20 champions Guyana will conclude their match practice for next month’s Champions League 20/20 cricket tournament in South Africa with two matches against dethroned Regional 20/20 champions Trinidad and Tobago under lights at the Guyana National Stadium tonight and tomorrow night.
In addition to what promises to be two riveting matches between the home team and T&T from 20:00hrs each night, New Line Cavaliers and Universal DVD Club Berbice Titans will clash from 16:00hrs today while tomorrow’s Guyana/T&T battle will be preceded by another 16:00hrs contest, this time between East Coast Jaguars and the Georgetown Pit Bulls. The winners of the two 16:00hrs games will pocket $100,000 while the losers will take home $50,000.
Tickets for any of the four main stands cost $1,000 while children under 12 years-old will be admitted into the Stadium free. Fans are allowed to walk with their food baskets but bringing glass bottles to the venue is prohibited. Fans are also being encouraged to wear green or yellow in support of the National side. The Guyana Police Force prohibits any parking inside the stadium. Parking can be done on the red loam area between Princess Hotel and the Stadium.
Former West Indies under-19 opener Richard Ramdeen has been added to the 14 players who flew the Golden Arrow Head proudly during this country’s unbeaten run in the Caribbean Championships in Barbados and Trinidad and what is anticipated to be a sell-out crowd will have the chance of seeing all 15 Guyanese players who will head to South Africa.
All 15 Guyana players will be in action today and tomorrow since in addition to these games being used to prove that Guyana are the best 20/20 team in the Region, the matches are being used as practice for South Africa.
Guyana’s win against T&T in the Caribbean 20/20 semis has not gone down well with many die-hard T&T fans who took it for granted that their team, (which set the standards really high in last year’s Champions League in India by playing unbeaten until their loss to New South Wales in the final) would again be representing the West Indies in this year’s competition and T&T will be keen to back up their boast of being the Region’s best 20/20 unit with victories against the Guyanese.
In the three regional 20/20 competitions held, Guyana has won twice, both times beating T&T on the way to championship honours while T&T’s only win was in 2008 in Antigua when they did not face Guyana, who lost by a run to Jamaica in the semi-finals.
Kieron Pollard, who will represent Mumbai Indians in South Africa and Dwayne Bravo, who should play for the same team are both unavailable for this weekend’s matches.
Fans will get to see the Caribbean’s latest 20/20 sensation, 19-year-old Jonathon Foo, play his first senior game for his country on home soil while Test players Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon give the Guyanese strenght at the top. Kaieteur News has been reliably informed that Narsingh Deonarine, Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan and Paul Wintz may not be involved tonight after contracting dengue fever. Foo, Royston Crandon, Chris Barnwell, Derwin Christian, Esuan Crandon and Lennox Cush can all hit the ball a long way and if they get going plenty of fireworks could be expected for the partisan crowd.
Cush, who played five consecutive days of cricket for the USA in Italy and scored a century in the final, returned home on Thursday and although he should be tired from all the traveling, the experienced all-rounder could play a crucial role with the new ball. Leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo bowled impressively throughout the Caribbean Championships but with Guyana’s bowling being their weak link in the regional tournament, medium pacers Esuan Crandon and Chris Barnwell will want to put into practice tonight what they have learnt from Roger Harper during the past week.
When T&T qualified for last year’s tournament in India, Guyana accommodated them here with practice matches and now they have returned the favour for what should be two pulsating farewell matches for the Guyanese who face Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game on September 12.
The Trinis, led by their inspirational Captain Daren Ganga arrived in Guyana just after 07:00hrs yesterday and the GCB is very appreciative of the team and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) for agreeing to play the two games.
While the rivalry is expected to be high and the local crowd should be fully behind their team after the ‘old talk’ in Trinidad, the relationship between the two teams has always been great and that is not expected to change even as the visitors will want to prove they can find a way to beat Guyana, the only team to beat them in regional 20/20 cricket.
“When we qualified last year Guyana accommodated us here to round off our preparations and now we are returning the favour. We are taking these games very seriously since we are viewing them as the start to our preparations for the Regional One-Day tournament later this year and the 2011 season. I expect a very large crowd and a competitive match,” Skipper Ganga said yesterday when his team arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri.
The Trinidad Skipper said that Guyana earned the right to represent the region by winning the Caribbean Championship and assured that Trinidad would be supporting the Guyanese in South Africa.
“I guess the entire Caribbean is behind Guyana to do well and even if they don’t reach the final but play to their best, the region would be proud of them. The standard of play will be a lot higher than in the regional tournament in conditions which will be different from what they played in here and they (Guyana) will have to be on top of their game. This should be a big occasion for the team and the people of Guyana and we (T&T) wish them all the best,” the eloquent Ganga told Kaieteur Sport from Timehri.
The Guyana Cricket Board yesterday commended the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) for fulfilling their promise of providing a team to play in the practice matches.
Adrian Barath and Justin Guillen will hope to give T&T a good start for Lendl Simmons, Skipper Ganga and Brian Lara look-a-like Darren Bravo to build on. With Imran Khan and Sherwin Ganga also capable with the bat, the Guyanese bowlers should have a real test on what should be a slow track and fast outfield as they continue preparations for South Africa.
Seamers Kevon Cooper, Reyad Emrit and Richard Kelly are in the team but spinners, Sherwin Ganga, Yannick Carriah and Sunil Narine could cause the most problems in what should be spin-friendly conditions.
Dave Martins will sing his popular ‘Not a blade of Grass when the Guyanese come out to field tonight and plenty of food and liquid refreshments will be on sale inside the stadium.
Gates open at 15:00hrs and fans are asked to arrive early in order to avoid congestion at the gate.
Squads: T&T: Daren Ganga (Capt), Lendl Simmons, Justin Guillen, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Sherwin Ganga, Richard Kelly, Imran Khan, Reyad Emrit, Daniel St Clair, Sunil Narine, Yannick Carriah.
Colin Borde (Manger), Kelvin Williams (Coach), Ronald Rogers (trainer)
Guyana: Ramnaresh Sarwan (Capt.), Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Derwin Christian, Esuan Crandon, Royston Crandon, Lennox Cush, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Jonathan Foo, Assad Fudadin Steven Jacobs, Paul Wintz, Richard Ramdeen, Carl Moore (Manager)
Rabindranauth Seeram (Coach), Orin Bailey (Trainer), Robin Singh (Video Analyst), Beverly Nelson (Physiotherapist)
Georgetown Pit Bulls: Leon Johnson (Capt), Dion Ferrier (V/Capt), Trevor Garraway, Totaram Bishun, Troy Gonsalves, Shemroy Barrington, Rawle Browne, Trevon Griffith, Dillon Heyliger, Kellon Carmichael, Ravi Sarwan, Andre Stoll, Jason Heyliger, Jamal Hinckson, Travis Blyden, Trevor Benn, Roderick Lovell (Coach), Bharrat Mangru (Manager)
New Line Cavaliers: Andre Percival (Capt) Gajanand Singh (vice Capt) Ishwar Singh, Andrew Light Jnr, Balram Samaroo, Orin Ford, Chien Gittens, Avinash Sookdeo, Chabiraj Ramcharran, Anthony Ifill, Budhan Baksh, Cohen Ismond, Seenarine Mathura (Manager), Zaheer Khan (Scorer).
Universal DVD Berbice Titans: Eugene LaFleur (Captain), Anthony D’Anrade, Keith Fraser, Rayed Ally, Ranga Latchana, Devon Clements, Michael Newland, Delbert Hicks, Anthony Bramble, Rajiv Ivan, Krisendat Ramoo, Keyron Fraser, Keon Joseph and Steven Latcha. Anil Beharry (Manager), David Black (Assistant Manager), Adrian Amsterdam (Coach).
East Cost Jaguars: Zaheer Mohamed (Captain), Krishna Arjune (Vice Captain), Christopher Pattadin, Wasim Haslim, Ryan Ramdass, Vishnu Ramjit, Clive Andries, Marvin Cato, Suresh Budhu, Ravi Singh, Imran Khan, Videsh Lall, Joseph Perry, Sureshpaul Deosarran, Darron Peters, Raymond Barton (Manager), Hardeo Sattaur (Coach)

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