The Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) has named its 14-man squad to contest the senior Inter-County four-day competition which is set to commence next week-end.
The Travis Dowlin-led side, which will oppose Essequibo in the opening encounter at the Everest Cricket Club ground, has two new faces in Everest and Guyana under -19 fast bowler Leon Scott and his team-mate wicket keeper/batsman Joseph Perry.
The squad also includes Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) opener Shemroy Barrington, who has been having a very good season with the bat in the Georgetown Cricket Association/ Cell Link Plus sponsored three-day first division competition.
Also included are West Indies under-19 selectees Steven Jacobs and Rajendra Chandrika, who will both be looking to get among the runs in some early preparation for the Youth World Cup after having a dismal run in the just concluded Regional KFC limited overs competition.
In his first game as a WI youth player, Jacobs faced one ball from a fired-up Pedro Collins and was adjudged lbw as his team crumbled for 18. Collins went on to break the record for best bowling figures when he took 7-11 from 7.3 overs.
Notable absentees from the squad are Neil Mc Garrell and Lennox Cush (who had both informed the selectors of their unavailability), Dem-erara Cricket Club’s wicket keeper/batsman Derwin Christian, GCC’s wicket keeper batsman Tyrell Tull and former West Indies fast bowler Reon King.
The reason for not choosing King for such a competition can only be known by the selectors, but if they were looking to breed a young fast bowler, then they could have turned to former Guyana under-19 and MSC fast bowler Jeremiah Harris who has been bowling with some pace in the same GCA/ Cell Link Plus sponsored first-division, three-day competition.
Georgetown Cricket Club’s Ricardo Jadunauth also found favor with the selectors, whilst his more senior counterpart Ravi Sarwan has once again been placed on the stand-by list along with Transport Sports Club and Guyana Under-19 all rounder Kelon Carmichael.
Also unlucky not to be given a try at this level of competition is national under-19 batsman Vishal Singh who also plies his trade at GCC.
Singh displayed maturity in compiling an unbeaten 48 from 43 balls for his club in their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Neal and Massey semi final match on Thursday, piloting his team to a six- wicket victory in the process.
The 14-man squad reads: Travis Dowlin (Captain), Shemroy Barrington, Rajendra Chandrika, Steven Jacobs, Krishna Deosarran, Dion Ferrier, Leon Johnson, Joseph Perry, Zaheer Mohammed, Sauid Drepaul, Chris Barnwell, Rayon Griffith and Leon Scott. Orin Bailey (Coach)
The six stand bys are: Ravi Sarwan, Rawle Browne, Clive Andries, Troy Gonsalves, Vishal Singh and Kelon Carmichael.
