GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday March 13 2014
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Windies find favourable momentum ahead of World T20 defence, says Sammy B R I D G E TO W N , B a r b a dos (CMC) - Captain Darren Sammy says defending World T20 champions West Indies have found favourable momentum with less than a week to go before the start of the tournament in Bangladesh. The West Indies captain was commenting after his team’s back-to-back victories over England in the first two of a three-match T20 series, beating England by five wickets on Tuesday after prevailing by 27 runs on Sunday to clinch the series with the final match set for today. “We wanted to leave here with good momentum going into the World Cup,” Sammy said. “For two games it has been a complete team effort, I can’t fault the lads”. West Indies begin the defence of their World T20 title with a game against India at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur on March 23. Sammy said the series victory over England represented the ideal boost the team needed
before leaving for the Caribbean and credited the achievement on total team work. “In T20 cricket the momentum shifts at different times and we wanted to make sure we started well and we finished well,” said Sammy. “It feels good. It’s been a long time since we won a series, much less winning 3-0.” Sammy said he was relieved to see Gayle’s return from injury as well as his current form and pointed to the opening partnership of Gayle and Dwayne Smith as an asset on the subcontinent. “Chris (Gayle) is one of the most explosive Twenty20 players and (Dwayne) Smith allows Chris to play in that manner. Cricket is all about partnerships; we bowl in partnerships and when we bat, it’s very important,” said Sammy. “Gayle, we know how destructive he can be, but he gives himself time and Smith gives him that time by going hard at the ball. Then we know we’ve got power at the end with myself and (Dwayne) Bravo.”
Flashback! The members of the West Indies team break into a celebratory jig after clinching the World T20 title in Colombo two years ago.
Mayor’s All Star line-up to Bookie hits ton as West visit Suriname next week Demerara batsmen fail ... … play Alpha in practice fixture tonight By Calvin Roberts FOLLOWING their selection at the completion of this year’s Mayor’s Cup football tournament, the Joshua Kamal-led Mayor’s All Star lineup will, from Monday March 17, begin a tour of neighbouring Suriname, at the invitation of that country’s governing body. According to organiser of the Mayor’s Cup and manager of the All Star team Lennox Arthur, the Surinaamse Voetbal Bond (Suriname Football Association) has invited the team to compete in a series of matches against their Under-20 team as well as Prakash Football Club. “We were invited by the Surinamese to play three matches there, starting with a game against the National Under-20 side on March 18, followed by another contest against the same lineup two days later, while we play Prakash on March 20,” said Arthur. He told Chronicle Sport that all the matches will be contested at the Andre Kamperveen
Delon Lanferma Stadium in Paramaribo, the same venue that saw the Golden Jaguars go under to Suriname 1-0 in their 2010 World Cup qualifier six years ago. To this end and in order to make sure that his boys churn out a good performance in Suriname next week, Arthur has organised a practice fixture against the Guyana’s number one team Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United from 19:00hrs at the Georgetown Football Club ground tonight. Players of the calibre of Delon Lanferman, Jamal Petty,
Randolph Wagner Dominique Garnette, Randolph Wagner, Trevor Jones and Joshua Browne, will form part of the Mayor’s All Star line-up for tonight’s fixture. The full squad to tour Suriname reads: Joshua Browne, Lescharles Critchlow, Kimba Brathwaite, Delon Lanferman, Jeffrey Pereira, Andre Hector, Dwayne Wilson, Jamal Petty, Dominique Garnette, Trevor Jones, Clive Matthews, Joshua Kamal, Devon Charles, Rishawn Hicks, Keron Solomon, Malcolm Wilson, Orville Stewart, Kevin Layne Jr., Rondell Arthur, Nickel Fraser and Randolph Wagner.
From Backpage
ing the emphatic win by the Gavin Nedd-coached defending champions’ line-up. Opting to bat first in hazy conditions, Bookie guided Georgetown to 291 for 5 from their 50 overs, hitting 12 fours and one six in his 109 (50-5x4; 1x6) and got ample support from Kurt Lovell 61 (4x4, 1x6), with whom he added 163 for the fourth wicket, even as Joshua Persaud chipped in with 35 (5x4). Daneshwar Kowlessar and Ritesh Samaroo took 2 wickets each for 29 and 58 runs respectively for West Demerara, who, in reply, were bowled out for a meagre 13 in 7.5 overs, with all of their batsmen failing to trouble the scorer. Ashmead Nedd (4-0), Colin Barlow (3 for 3) and Junior Phillips 2 for 9, ran through their batting without any resistance, with extras accounting for all their runs. At GCC, East Coast like Georgetown, chose to bat first and were bowled out for
Bhaskar Yadram 175 from 49 overs, with their s k i p p e r B h a s k a r Ya d r a m , who led Guyana at the Regional Under-15 tournament last year, topscoring with 47 (7x4). He added 62 for the third wicket with Basdeo who contributed 40 (5x4) to his team’s total, with Prakash Balkissoon chipping in with a valuable 31 that was decorated with three fours in East Coast’s middle order, in the face of Bhojnarine Singh’s 5 for 22 and Rickey Das’ 3 for 26. Basdeo returned with the
Ashmead Nedd ball to snare 6 for 34, which enabled East Coast, who narrowly lost out on claiming the title last year to Georgetown, to bowl out their opponents for 156 from 41.2 overs, despite 35 (2x4) from Sagar Hetheramani and a resilient 13 from Rawle Douglas, that included two fours. The action continues today at the Everest Cricket Club ground, where both West Demerara and East Bank will be seeking redemption for their first-round loss, when they clash from 10:00hrs.