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GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday September 24, 2014
GCB INTER-COUNTY 4-DAY
Jason Holder
Confident Developmental XI face Demerara … Second round action bowls off today By Calvin Roberts BUOYED by their sixwicket victory over Essequibo in the first round, a confident Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Developmental XI, led by national all-rounder Steven Jacobs, will face Demerara in one of two second-round matches of this year’s GCB senior Inter-county four-day tournament which bowls off today. This contest will take place at the Everest Cricket Club ground, while in the other contest, Berbice and perennial whipping boys Essequibo, will go headto-head at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground. Both matches bowl off at 09:30hrs each day. At Everest, the Developmental XI, who came under some questionable umpiring decisions against Essequibo in their first innings, will be looking to West Indies Under-19 openers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shimron Hetmyer to give them a solid start with the bat, reminiscence of their second-innings performance against the Cinderella County boys, when chasing 268 for victory. The middle order will be bolstered by Jacobs, Chandrapaul Hemraj, David Latchaya, Yatesh Dhanpaul, the vastly improving Kemo Paul and Kemol Savory, while Kellon Carmichael, Steven Sankar and Niall Smith will bolster the lower order, if the management decides to go with the same 11 for this match. Yes, Demerara have three of the four centurions from their first-round matchup against Berbice within their ranks, but once Jacobs can get his boys to bowl a tidy line and length and reduce the free-scoring ability of the Garvin Neddcoached Demerara lineup, then this contest can be an interesting one. Carmichael will be expected to share the new ball with either Smith or Paul in windy conditions, taking the sheen off same for Jacobs, Dhanpaul and Sankar to do their magic with spin, especially on a
track that offers assistance to spin bowling. Nevertheless, the Vishal Singh-led Demerara unit will look to the skipper, first-round double centurion in opener Rajendra Chandrika and national opener Trevon Griffith, their three centurions, backed by Christopher Barnwell, Shemroy Barrington, Robin Bacchus, Zaheer Mohammed and Joseph Perry, to post a good total if asked to bat first.
unbeaten on 132 to become the fourth centurion. Anthony Bramble, skipper Narsingh Deonarine, Herman Latcha, Veerasammy Permaul and Keon Joseph who batted wisely and cautiously during his 69run third-wicket partnership with Surujnarine on the final morning, will all lend support with the bat. In Joseph and Raun Johnson, Berbice have the best new-ball pair in the country, with backings
and this year, he finished the limited overs version of the tournament with 11 wickets, having taken 5 against Demerara who won their first-round contest by the skin of their teeth, four against the Under-19s and two against Berbice. Yet, he was bypassed for the best bowler award, an obvious mistake acknowledged by those in authority, while in his side’s first-round game against the Developmental
Demerara wicketkeeper Joseph Perry is caught by Chronicle Sport photographer Adrian Narine paying keen attention as Berbice opener Kandasammy Surujnarine plays a forward defensive stroke, during the drawn first-round encounter between the two teams. Their bowlers will be led by Barnwell and Paul Wintz, while Bacchus, Mohammed, Amir Khan, Raj Nannan and to a lesser extent Griffith, can lend valuable support in the bowling department. At DCC, the Ancient County will be forced to make changes to their lineup, as national allrounder Royston Crandon, who was embroiled in an on-field altercation with Barrington in the first round, has been handed a onematch suspension by the Disciplinary Committee of the GCB. Apart from that, Devon Clements and Jason Sinclair both failed with the bat, as Jonathan Foo’s miserable run continues while Kandasammy Surujnarine, who was involved in a match-saving 163-run fourth-wicket partnership with Crandon, finished
coming from Romario Shepherd-DeJonge, who should be having a run at the Essequibians - a team that is susceptible to fast bowling. Permaul, Deonarine, Latcha and former West Indies Under-19 leftarm orthodox spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, will take charge of the spin bowling department with support from Clements and Foo, if selected. There is no doubt that when it comes to the possession of a strong mental fortitude, skipper Anthony Adams stands head and shoulders above his teammates in the Vibert Johnson-coached Essequibo lineup. Year after year, he has led their bowling without much of a frown, even when the national selectors continue to bypass him
XI, he ended with eight wickets, after taking 7 for 34 in the first innings that routed the opposition for 128. With such attributes, openers Kevon Boodie and Royan Fredericks, along with Ricardo Peters, Ricardo Adams, Mark Gonsalves, Parmesh Parsotam and Shivendra Hemraj, will need to come good with the bat against Berbice and post an insurmountable total one that will enable Mark Tyrell, Brian Herbert, Hemchand Persaud, Anthony Adams and Fredericks to bowl at, if they intend to have their team produce a much better showing, in comparison to what was seen in the second innings of their firstround game against the Developmental XI.
Holder urges patience from Caribbean fans MOHALI, India (CMC) – West Indies fast bowler Jason Holder wants Caribbean fans to have patience with the regional side as they continue to struggle at the highest level. Once considered the best side in the World during the 1980s and early 1990s, West Indies have plummeted over the last decade to sit at number eight in the ICC Test team rankings. The 22-year-old Holder, widely viewed as key to any future revival, said with the team currently struggling, the focus was on returning to the pinnacle of world cricket again. “Back then we were very competitive, very dominant. In the recent past we haven’t been that good and we have been inconsistent,” said Holder, currently in India representing Barbados Tridents in the Champions League Twenty20. “Obviously people who watched cricket back then expect the high standards and honestly we haven’t been giving that in the last few years in West Indies cricket. So there is
disappointment in a sense. “But I just hope that they could bear with us. We are in a rebuilding phase in a way and we will get there as soon as possible.” Holder has played just one Test – against New Zealand in his native Barbados back in June, where he managed to score a half-century on debut. And while he still considers himself a bowling all-rounder, he said he has been putting in plenty work with the bat in the nets. “I guess I will be a bowling all-rounder. But I practise my batting a lot, I love it and it is something I would never neglect,” Holder said. “I focus a lot on my batting. I try to keep things well balanced between my batting and my bowling. When I am on my own I tend to go into the nets and hit a lot of balls at home. And when I get a chance within teams, I try to top it with a little bit more. “The more I bat and the better position I get in and feel well balanced, that’s better for me when I go into a game.”
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Wednesday September 24, 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 Tuesday’s quiz: (1) 36 (2)Javed Omar (vs ZIM, Bulawayo, 2001) Today’s Quiz: (1) How many wicketkeepers have captained the WI in Tests? (2) Who is the first Bangladeshi to score a Test match hundred? Answers in tomorrow’s issue