Night of Nostalgia at Providence…Legends turn back clock in Guyana Festival t20

Aug 11, 2014 Sports

By Sean Devers
A galaxy of former stars shone under the floodlights at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence as they turned back the clock in a specially arranged exhibition game organized by the Tourism Ministry on Saturday night as part of its three-day Guyana Festival which culminated last night.

President Ramotar bowls the first
ball to Sewnarine Chattergoon.

Thousands of fans packed the stands to see the Ex International cricketers play for a ‘Masters X1’ against a President’s X1 made up of players of a more recent vintage which included present West Indies Test batsman Shiv Chanderpaul, Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Assad Fudadin, Reon King and Mahendra Nagamootoo.
While they were heroes in the glory days of West Indies cricket in the 1980s and early ‘90s to the ‘old stagers,’ who tolerated the Tassa drumming and loud music ‘booming’ from massive speakers during the breaks in between overs which is now the standard operating procedure at t20 matches, this was the first time, and most likely the last time, the younger folks were seeing Guyanese players like Faoud Bacchus, Sew Shivnarine, Clyde Butts, Clayton Lambert, Sudesh Dhaniram, Derrick Kallicharran, Sheik Mohamed, Rabindranauth Seeram, Travis Dowlin, Reon King and Colin Stuart on a cricket field.
That the clearly ‘not so fit’ ‘Masters’ were playing at Guyana’s newest cricket venue and involved in t20 cricket for the first time, and the organizers did not bother to have any scorer record the scores in the match, were irrelevant issues to their wonderful idea to incorporate such a match in their event and few bothered that the local legends, most of them well into their 50s, chased down balls to the boundary like old Morris Oxford cars.
The feeling of nostalgia was satisfying enough for the fans, who got more than their $1,000 worth of entertainment at an event where there was also football match between two of the top local teams (Slingers & GDF) in addition to a concert where a number of Guyanese music Legends performed.
Several overseas Guyanese and many visitors to this country were among the crowd of close 6,000.
President Donald Ramotar bowled the first ball to Chattergoon after the President’s X1 won the toss and opted to bat first on the slow track and immaculately manicured Providence sward and the memories of titanic battles in the Shell Shield Regional First-Class competitions came flooding back to many old enough to have witnessed them live.
That the President’s X1 won or that the contest lacked the intensity or number of sixes usually seen in t20 matches and began over an hour late were of little importance to many at venue on Saturday evening.
Lambert and Dhaniram opened the innings before Bacchus and Seeram, who both played some audacious shots, joined forces in a nice little partnership to remind of the days when Regional cricket was of a very high standard and money was not a main motivating factor for the players.
The left-handed Kallicharran, with his hair, which was tinged with grey, blowing in the cool night breeze, lofted Sarwan for six after caressing him through cover to get off the mark first ball with an imperious boundary.
Seeing Butts bowling to present day West Indies batsmen without being destroyed and leg-spinner Arjune Nandu being hit for six by Chanderpaul but still getting the left-hander caught by ‘flighting’ the ball, should have been an education to the young spinners, interested enough to watch.
Azeemul Haniff played some delightful shots in his innings and was particularly severe on Stuart, stroking the former West Indies quickie for three gloriously timed boundaries in the same over.
Former Guyana pacer Kevin Darlington opened the bowling for the Master’s X1 while Gavin Nedd, Lennox Cush and wicket-Keeper Vishal Nagamootoo, who many felt should have gotten a few games for the West Indies, were also on show as were former West Indies under-19 players Amir Khan and Keon Joseph.
The fantastic atmosphere created by the public Address Announcer, who kept the spectators informed throughout the match and the smiles on the faces of the fans proved the match was a resounding success although at an event titled ‘Guyana Festival’ a little less foreign music could have been played by the DJ. In the end the President’s XI proved too strong for the Masters XI.