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What will the selectors come up with?
Guyana prepares for Regional U-19 series in Jamaica
By Sean Devers
Now that both the Inter-county under-19 cricket tournaments have been completed the National
Kemo Paul
Youth selectors should soon sit to name a training squad to prepare for this year’s Regional under-19 cricket series in Jamaica in July.
Guyana are defending champions in both the Regional three-day and one-day tournaments but unfortunately this year no three-day tournament will be contested at a time when the West Indies are trying to build a team that can be competitive at the Test level.
Regional under-19 Limited overs cricket was first played in 1998 in Trinidad after rain wreaked havoc on the three-day format that year. While Guyana has the most wins at the three-day level (since 1998 both competitions were played together) last year was the first time that this Country won the one-day version.
The Brian Sattuar led side played unbeaten before the final against the Windwards, set for Bourda, was washed out and Guyana won the title by virtue of them finishing with the most points in the preliminary rounds.
The Regional under-19 one-day tournament will be played with white balls, Black sightscreens and colored clothes and while the under-19 Inter-County 50-over tournament was not played with white balls, one hopes that the National U-19 Squad could be included in the senior Inter-County one-day competition which is scheduled to commence shortly after next month’s elections.
Shemron Hetmyer
Demerara, who won the under-19 one-day tournament in which the National under-17 side participated, played competitive cricket and was the only team not to lose any match. Since the doing away of National trial matches, the Inter-County competition is being used to select the National squad.
National U-17 skipper Renaldo Mohamed has plenty of talent as a fast bowling all-rounder and once he remains focused and don’t ‘get too big for the game’ his future in cricket looks bright and he could be the only U-17 player selected on the U-19 team.
Essequibo Captain Kemo Paul is arguable the most level-headed and hard working player at this level and the level of his maturity as a fast bowling all-rounder is quite impressive and qualifies him as the Captain.
Berbician left-handed opener Shemron Hetmyer is the only West Indies youth player in the team and seems to have become a more sound batsman without sacrificing his natural aggressive style and should be the Vice-Captain.
Demerara Captain Travis Persaud is a classy right-handed batsman but his temperament off the field
Sherfane Rutherford
does not recommend him as a leader while his teammate Tevin Imlach, who is also a specialist opener, should be picked as the Keeper, especially since the tournament is a 50 overs one.
Sherfane Rutherford is a pugnacious left-handed batsman who has the ability to bowl genuinely fast off a short run and like Paul and Mohamed, are ideally suited for the limited overs cricket.
Keanu Harry and Akeeni Adams are both left-arm spinners but they bowl with different pace and trajectory and could both be included in the squad.
The biggest headache for the selectors could be the pacers and off-spinners, although Paul, Rutherford and Mohamed qualify as pacers and opener Balchand Baldeo is a useful off-spinner, especially in the one-day format in which he shares the new ball for his county and club.
Berbician fast bowler Grisean Grant was impressive, while Tariq Dharamlall looked the best of the young off-spinners and could both be in the final 14-man squad.
Essequibo openers Nathan Persaud and Parmesh Parsotom looked technically correct and provided their team with several good starts and could also both be in the team to Jamaica.
Andre Percival is a former West Indies U-19 Captain who won consecutive Regional U-19 titles from 1992-1994 in addition to playing at the first-class level and is the best qualified person based on his track record to be Coach.
The probable squad: Kemo Paul (Capt), Shemron Hetmyer (V/Capt), Parmesh Parsotom, Tevin Imlach, Askaya Persaud, Travis Persaud, , Sherfane Rutherford, Renaldo Mohamed, Balchand Baldeo, Akeem Adams, Grisean Grant, Nathan Persaud, Tariq Dharamlall, Keanu Harry and Andre Percival (Coach).
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