A tournament badly affected by the unpredictable Guyana weather concludes tonight at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence with Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago competing for the West Indies Cricket Board’s President Cup one-day title.
Both teams have played unbeaten throughout the tourney and for Guyana reaching the final of a regional tournament after a string of lukewarm and seemingly chronic failures, represent a remarkable turnaround for coach Rabindranauth Seeram and his boys.
Prior to the start of the tournament the Guyana players knew they had to make up for their poor showing in this year’s four-day tournament.
Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the rest of the Guyana team know that they stand on the threshold of regaining some measure of respectability for Guyana’s cricket.
A win will do it.
T& on the other hand are the defending champions and still basking in the euphoria of that remarkable run in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India last month where they went all the way to the final.
According to T&T Captain Daren Ganga it would be nice to go back home with a title after their loss to New South Wales in that tournament.
On the other hand, Sarwan says that despite some individual brilliance in the tournament their key to victory in the matches has been the unity in the squad.
Both captains noted that their teams will be focusing on the fundamentals of the game, especially during the middle overs where the batsmen should be looking to be patient and the bowlers seeking to contain the free scoring of the batsmen.
“We have been trying to do the basics most of the times and then of course we have had individual brilliance but I think we have been playing well as a team; everyone has been contributing and playing their roles and I think that it is important that we continue to do that,” Sarwan explained.
Ganga’s take, “We are in the final again and we are not going to take it for granted; we played two good games of cricket to get us to the finals. Unfortunately two games were rained out and I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for us to start the season and go home back with a title and all the guys are looking forward to it.
“We know that Guyana is a competitive side and they have played good cricket all along so it will be a tough game and therefore we are looking forward to giving a good performance to give us a win at the end of the day.”
Ganga, commenting on the playing conditions said: “The guys have not adapted too well to the playing conditions in Guyana since it is a bit lower and slower and we have to spend a bit more time and apply ourselves. Those will be the things that will test us tomorrow (today) and we will have to be prepared for that.”
Sarwan giving his take on going into the finals said, “It is great achievement for us as a team. Therefore we are looking forward to it and hopefully beat Trinidad who have been on a high and they will be very confident and it would be important that we play well as a team and do what we know to do.”
Sarwan, who retained his place in the West Indies team to tour Australia after the contract dispute was settled somewhat, said that he is hoping that Guyana, if they should bat first, put on over 250 on the scoreboard to defend. However, both captains are cognizant that conditions on the day can conspire against what is desirable and what is possible but they never stopped short of imploring their charges to dig deep and play sensible all round cricket.
When Stabroek Sport enquired about what has been said concerning some of the injudicious shots at the top of the order Sarwan, who is returning to some form, said that they (coaching staff and senior players) have been trying to instill in players the need to be patient.
“It might be 50 overs and seem too small an amount but it is a lot of overs so try to be patient because that is one area that we fell down in the last couple of games when we lost the openers a bit early but I am sure they will come good tomorrow.”
Guyana (from): Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Chris Barnwell, Davendra Bishoo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Esaun Crandon, Royston Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Deon Ferrier, Assad Fudadin, Trevon Garraway, Delbert Hicks and Veerasammy Permaul.
Trinidad & Tobago (from): Daren Ganga (captain), Adrian Barath, Samuel Badree, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Sherwin Ganga, Imran Khan, Dave Mohammed, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons and Navin Stewart.
