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Sattaur to Captain Guyana U-15s in T&T
Nat’l squad to being encampment next week
By Sean Devers
National under-19 left hander and Demerara under -15 Skipper Brain Sattaur will captain the Guyana under-15 team in this year’s Regional tournament in Trinidad from July 2-16 while Berbice under-15 Captain Sharaz Ramcharran is his deputy.
Guyana has won just two regional under-15 tournaments (1998 & 99) since the competition was first introduced in 1996 and this year’s team was picked after the National youth selectors watched the Inter-County under-15 two day competition which concluded yesterday at Providence with Berbice retaining their title.
Skipper Brain Sattaur (left) and his deputy Sharaz Ramcharran
Although Berbice Keeper Akeem Hinds looked the best of the three wicketkeepers on show and could feel a bit disappointed in being left out, Demerara’s Khemraj Rupee superior batting could have influenced the selectors in giving him the nod.
Wicketkeeping and attacking off-spinners who really spin the ball are areas of concern in Guyana not only at the youth level, but at this age Rupee and the other under-15 Keepers could develop their art once they are prepared to work and have interested and competent Coaches working with them.
The top order batting looks strong while three of the four openers selected (Brandon Chanderpaul, Rickado Peters and Sattaur) could also bowl decent spin.
Chanderpaul, the son of Test player Shiv Chanderpaul was the leading scorer in the competition and could bowl both left arm spin and right-arm leg-spin and a lot will be expected of him with the bat in Trinidad in his first outing in National colours.
Sattaur, a pugnacious opener will be depended on to get big scores while Peters, a little right-hander from Essequibo looks a real talent in the making.
Shimron Hetymer, the younger brother of former National under-19 batsman Seon Hetmyer is a left-handed opener, who like Sattaur loves to play his shots and the make up of the squad could see at least one of the openers bat in the middle order.
Michael Shalim, Shivendra Hemraj and Ramcharran and Kemo Paul are the middle order batsmen but leg-spinner Steven Sankar, off-spinner Arif Chan and the Keeper are all rounders at this level which gives the Guyana batting plenty of dept.
Thirteen year West Demerara left-arm spinner Akshaya Persaud is the baby of the team and should spearhead the spin attack while a lot is expected of Chan, Ramcharran and Sankar on the Trinidad pitches.
Only two pacers in Nail Smith (the son of former National Coach Albert Smith) and Kevin Paul have been selected as like in the under-15 Inter-County, the emphasis is on spin.
Hinds and Essequibian Kemol Savory could be a bit unlucky to find themselves in the standby list which also includes Nicholas Cameron and Sunil Singh.
The 14 players and four standbys are expected to being their two-week encampment from next Thursday.
The Guyana squad read: Brain Sattaur (Captain), Sharaz Ramcharran (Vice-Captain), Brandon Chanderpaul, Rickado Peters, Arif Chan, Akshya Peters, Shivendra Hemraj, Michael Shalim, Kemo Paul, Steven Sankar, Khemraj Rupee, Shimron Hetymer, Nail Smith, Kevin Paul
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