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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday May 17, 2014
GCA/CARIB BEER T20
Grand finale at PSC ground this afternoon … Hosts looking to arrest GCC
SUBSEQUENT to their comprehensive showing in the Georgetown Cricket Association/Ansa McAl Carib Beer first division T20 tournament to date, where they upset the highly favoured Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) in last week Saturday’s semifinal, Police Sports Club (PSC) will be brimming with confidence when they host and oppose Georgetown Cricket Club in today’s final. The action starts at 13:00hrs
and based on the number of supporters who were at DCC last Saturday to cheer the lawmen to victory, another large partisan crowd is expected today, especially since they will be playing in their first division final, following a lengthy absence from such a stage. When the tournament was launched last year, nine first division teams were placed in two groups of four and five at the draw for the preliminary round matches. The result was that Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) topped Zone ‘A’ with 69 points, having played unbeaten in all four of their matches. Police Sports Club (PSC) ended as runners-up in that Zone with 54 points, winning three matches and losing one, while in Zone
Who needs it more? Here PSC skipper Royan Fredericks (left) and his GCC counterpart Robin Bacchus proudly display the GCA/Carib Beer T20 trophy which will be up for grabs when the two sides clash in the final this afternoon.
‘B’, defending champions DCC claimed the pole position with 66 points, Guyana National Industrial Corporation second, having accumulated 57 points, with both sides winning three matches and suffering losses to each other.
However, GCC stopped GNIC while Police arrested DCC, despite the presence of Christopher Barnwell, Trevon Griffith, Paul Wintz and Andre Stoll. Hence today’s final can certainly be seen as a humdinger. For their part, the home
Linden and Georgetown ready for showdown Inter-Association tournament bounces off tonight in Linden
By Rawle Toney ONE of the bitter rivalries in Guyana’s rich sporting history – Linden versus Georgetown - will add another note to their long list of stories when the two towns collide tonight from 20.00hrs at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court for the start of the GABF Inter-Association Championship. seasoned If you ever heard a conversation among seasoned lovers of the game locally about who were some of best players they’ve ever watched, names like Ulric Tappin and Lugard Mohan will certainly surface in the heated debate. History would show that several of the best to ever play the game, both locally and internationally, hail from either of Guyana’s townships. Tonight, the likes of Georgetown’s Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai and Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts of Linden will add to that legacy of top players to go head-to-head in a battle that is bigger than the sport itself. The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) announced that based on performances in
Linden players huddle during last evening’s practice session at the MSC hard court as they prepare to face Georgetown tonight in Linden.
this tournament they would shortlist players for the national squad for the 2014 CBC Championships in July. Fans could expect nothing short of a perfect game from the competing teams. Looking at both sides, pundits would say that Georgetown, equipped with more talented players, solely because of Kanhai, his Ravens teammates Ryan Stephney, Ryan Gullen, Rudy James and Jermaine Slater, not forgetting Pacesetters marksman Stephon Gillis, are favourites. The Georgetown backcourt certainly would have more depth than the Linden counterparts, being led by
Kanhai, Stephney, Dominic Vincente, Shelroy Thomas, Dave Causeway, Nikkolai Smith and Jason Squires but the home side are wellstocked in their frontcourt. Roberts is probably the country’s most dominant player in his position as power forward and his frontcourt partners, the Webster brothers (Shane and Alister), will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the paint, leaving Georgetown to rely heavily on their shooting game. Georgetown would be looking to use their superior control on the ball and their distinct advantage, boasting some of the more athletic players in the
country, against Linden who normally settle to play halfcourt basketball. If Linden want to go ‘oneup’ against Georgetown in the three-way round-robin tournament, they should try to exploit Roberts’ advantage he would have on the city side in the paint. Royston Siland, Roberts’ only threat (not much really) is out nursing a fractured finger, leaving Georgetown to look at Rudy James and Haslyn Hooper to play up against the tenacious Linden power forward. The problem is, to put it in layman’s terms: the City ‘bigs’ are too ‘soft’ to play against Roberts, so Georgetown will have to hope he has a very bad night or the Linden guards nonsensically play ‘hero’. It’s true, basketball is a team sport. Roberts’ supporting cast will have to work with their 6’5” forward if they really want to stop the exterior explosive game of the City players. Meanwhile, Chronicle Sport understands that Linden will have to do without Omally Sampson, former national captain Steve Neils Jr, Marvin Hartman and Neil Marks who have indicated their unavailability.
team will be looking to the energetic Trevor Benn and his older brother Troy, along with skipper Royan Fredericks, Jason Heyliger, Rawle Browne, Jermaine Reynolds, Kelvin Leitch, Randolph Knights, Seon ‘Big Neck’ Daniels and the hard-hitting Ricardo Adams, the man who singlehandedly won their semifinal encounter against DCC. On the other hand, the GCC unit, despite the absence of inspirational skipper Leon Johnson - away on West Indies Sagicor High Performance Centre ‘A’ team duties and Ramnaresh Sarwan, can still be a force to be reckoned with. As always, the absence of key players from any team creates the opportunity for other players to step to the fore and for GCC today, recently selected Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Robin
Bacchus will hold the reins of captaincy in the absence of Johnson and Sarwan. Bacchus will be looking to Devon Lord, Martin Pestano-Belle, Royston Alkins, Treon Forde, Joshua Wade, Ellon Fernandes and Chidanand Shivram for full support, as the Shivnarine Chanderpaul Drive-based GCC team seek to stop the lawmen’s winning streak and take home the trophy and $110 000, leaving their opponents to settle for the runner-up prize of $60 000. Apart from the two top prizes mentioned above, trophies and medals will be issued to the leading batsmen, bowlers, fielders and MVPs from the two zones in the preliminary rounds while the man-ofthe-match, batsman with the highest score, bowler with the most wickets and fielder who effected the most dismissals in the final will also be rewarded.
Sri Lanka beat Kent by 128 runs SRI Lanka claimed their first victory on English soil this summer as they beat Kent by 128 runs in their one-day match at Canterbury. The tourists posted a total of 301 for the loss of seven wickets as Angelo Mathews top-scored with 51. Kent could only manage 173 all out in reply, as Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera and Ajantha Mendis
claimed three wickets apiece. Sri Lanka will next play Sussex at Hove tomorrow. The tourists’ first match against England will be a Twenty20 international at the Oval on Tuesday. During their tour of England, Sri Lanka will also play five one-day internationals and two Test matches, the first of which begins on June 12. (BBC Sport)
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Saturday May 17, 2014) Compliments of THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market &The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL CO. LTD-83 Garnette Street, Campbellville (Tel: 225-6158; 223-6055) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) Chris Gayle-RCB; Dwayne Smith-CSK; Sunil Narine-KKR; Kieron Pollard-MI (2) 28 centuries Today’s Quiz: (1) Which team has been the first to be bowled out in less than 20 overs in this year’s IPL? (2) Who is the first wicketkeeper to be declared Man of the Match in this year’s IPL? Answers in tomorrow’s issue