North Essequibo, Rose Hall Town Windies Sports Bar (RHTWSB), Albion Community Centre and Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) will all be in action today when the national semi-final of the Neal and Massy first division 40-over club tournament bowls off.
MSC, after beating Everest Cricket Club (ECC) by eight runs in the Demerara final last Saturday, will oppose Berbice runner-up Albion at the Albion Community Centre ground while North Essequibo will challenge Berbice club winners RHTWSB at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground.
The current fixture is poised for some keenly contested encounters although it can be said that Albion has the most balanced and experienced team. Their players, both past and present represented Guyana at various levels and some are former West Indies players.
The Chattergoon siblings: Sewnarine and Harrinarine who opened batting for the West Indies and captained Guyana under-15 squad respectively make-up the batting armoury. Narsingh Deonarine and Jonathan Foo are also in the batting line-up as well as being useful stock bowlers in the shorter versions in the game. They will be lending support to the bowling department of the senior national spinners Veerasammy Permaul and Davindra Bishoo and national under-15 spinner, if he is selected in the final eleven, the diminutive Godakesh Motie.
MSC will also be fielding a strong squad that also includes some national players at different levels. Their captain is national all-rounder Steven Jacobs who will be garnering support from opener Shemroy Barrington, Lennox Cush, Kwame Crosse, fast bowler Seon Daniels and Deon Ferrier.
Meanwhile, in the other contest Esaun Crandon will be captaining RHTWSB which has been shored-up with the return of West Indies One-Day batsman Royston Crandon from the recently-concluded ICC Champions Trophy Tournament in South Africa. The dogged and consistent national middle order batsman Assad Fudadin can be the glue that holds the middle and lower order should there be a collapse at some point. Fudadin’s presence can make a huge impact in the batting as his technique is somewhat sound at this level. There will also be support from Deon Hooper, wicketkeeper Delbert Hicks. The older sibling Esaun, who is no rabbit with the bat, will be opening the bowling.
North Essequibo on the other hand will have a lot to prove especially since the county has consistently been churning out very ordinary performances when stacked against their stronger opponents in Demerara and Berbice.
The Essequibians can take their underdog status and draw inspiration from that and create an upset to move through to the day/night finals that will be played on October 18 at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
