THE administration of Berbice cricket is currently engaging the attention of the courts which is gradually destroying the image of the game in that county.
However, those who are tasked to carry out the functions of the board have managed to put together an Inter-county Under-15 team to defend their title when the Guyana Cricket Board-sponsored Dave West Indian Imports tournament bowls off today.
Certainly it will not be an easy task, taking into consideration the current state of affairs, but coach Leslie Solomon is optimistic that the title will remain with the team despite all the negativities surrounding the administration of the game.
“Taking into consideration all the issues at hand, we, as a team, are confident heading into the tournament,” Solomon stated during an exclusive interview yesterday.
Berbice dished out a clinical performance, beating Demerara by five wickets in the final last year, but according to Solomon, “We have a new squad of players we don’t have any player from last year, but having said that, we had our inter-zone competition, we had a couple of training sessions and at least our confidence is high, but it will definitely take a combined team effort to retain the title,” Solomon contended.
Meanwhile, according to the local governing body GCB, three rounds of cricket will be played before the top two teams advance to the final. Two matches will be played simultaneously at different venues.
Berbice will play the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) President’s XI at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, Bourda, while Demerara and Essequibo clash at the Lusignan ground in today’s fixtures.
The tournament continues on February 6 with Berbice facing Demerara at Everest while Essequibo will battle the GCB President’s X1 at Tuschen.
The final round will be played on February 8. Demerara will oppose the President’s X1 at Lusignan while Berbice and Essequibo do battle at Everest. The final is scheduled for February 10 at GCC.
Teams will gain six points for a win, two points for a washed-out or abandoned match, and 0.1 point for each fast bowling wicket.
The Berbice team reads: Vettorie Lathman, Rampertab Ramnauth, Mahendra Gopilall, Tomani Ceaser, Zeynol Ramsammy, Antoine Alexander, Jonathon Rampersaud, Darius Joseph, Jeremy Sandia, Isia Thorne, Latchman Dhanna, Matthew Pottaya, Pavanand Ganesh and Boodram Lakeraj
The Demerara squad reads: Mavindra Dindyal, Nicholas Rajpat, Zachary Jodha, Rivaldo Phillips, Rommel Datterdeen, Chandrapaul Rajpat, Shemar Yearwood, Krishna Singh, Inderjeet Nanan, Alex Alli, Thaddeus Lovell, Shafeek Khan, Darius Andrews and Vishal Persaud. The coach is Latchman Yadram.
The Essequibo squad reads: Ronaldo Scouten, Mahendra Basdeo, Ryan Atkinson, Davindra Ramdahin, Ramesh Ramnarine, Jarrad Allicock, Rickey Persaud, Adarsh Ramdial, Ken George, Gladwin Henry Jr, Dwayne Fredericks, Reynard Ramroop, Steven Corbin and Jonathon Lynch.
As is customary, the President’s X1 squad is made up of the reserve players from the three counties.
The squad reads: Terrence Softleigh, Avick Ramdial, Tomesh Kellawan, Hemendra Goordial, Vikash Singh, Tameshwar Mahadeo, Saffie Shazad, Shreedat Roopnarine, Rudra Goberdhan, Sanjay Persaud, Shahid Vieira, Ajay Gainda, Yohance Anjoy, Chad Tulesh Shivrattan and Aaron Persaud.