(Jamaica Gleaner) Guyana’s captain Assad Fudadin says while most of the players in his team are young and inexperienced, he is still looking forward to them pulling off an upset win against defending champions Jamaica in this weekend’s opening round of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Four-day Tournament.
The game, which will be played at the Alpart Sports Club in St Elizabeth, is slated to start on Friday, beginning at 10 a.m.
“We are without most of our senior players yes, but I think we have an eager and pretty good side,” said Fudadin, shortly after his team’s arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday.
“Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and it is the team that plays the better and more consistent cricket over the four days that will come out on top.
“Our preparation has been good and if we play to our potential we can beat Jamaica,” added the 25 year-old former West Indies ‘A’ captain, who was his team’s leading scorer last season.
The Guyanese, who last season finished sixth in the seven-team competition, will be without senior West Indies players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, as well as other Windies representatives Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon and Travis Dowlin.
Chanderpaul and Sarwan are away with the West Indies, who are presently in Sri Lanka where they are challenging that nation in a one-day series, while Deonarine and Chattergoon picked up injuries prior to the team’s arrival. Dowlin was dropped from the team’s 13-man squad due to a loss of form.
Quality players
Despite his team being short-handed, Mark Harper, coach of the Guyana team, shares his captain’s sentiments that it’s the performance on the day which counts.
“Cricket don’t play with names,” said Harper, brother of former West Indies player and coach, Roger. “Jamaica will be tough playing at home as they are the defending champions and have a lot of good players in their squad.
“But having said that we have an exciting player such as Leon Johnson, who is looking at this match as an opportunity to show his quality,” he added.
The Guyanese will look to Fudadin, former West Indies U-19 captain Johnson, who played three one-day internationals for the West Indies in 2008, and Rajendra Chandrika, who played for the High Performance Centre team in the last regional 50-over competition here last year, to lead their batting.
In the bowling department, much will be expected of spinners Davendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul, who have both represented the West Indies A team and pacers Brandon Bess, who has a Test match experience to his credit, and Esuan Crandon.
Guyana squad: Assad Fudadin (Captain), Vishal Arjune, Rajendra Chandrika, Shemroy Barrington, Steven Jacobs, Leon Johnson, Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo, Esuan Crandon, Brendon Bess, Rensford Beaton, Mark Harper (Coach), Carl Moore (Manager).
Stand-bys: Chris Barnwell, Anthony Bramble, Zaheer Mohamed, André Stoll, and Keon Joseph.
