CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Combined Campuses & Colleges and Guyana will look to rebound from heavy defeats when they face-off in the fourth round of the WICB regional first-class championship starting today at Three Ws Oval.
CCC are fourth in the Championship on 12 points – the same as the Windward Islands – from three matches, and Guyana are bottom of the standings on three points with a match in hand.
The CCC started the season brightly, when they embarrassed one of the pre-season favourites Trinidad & Tobago by 151 runs in the first round in Jamaica, but the last two rounds have been really awful.
They crashed to an eight-wicket defeat to Barbados in round two in Nevis, and were shown little mercy by the Windward Islands in a nine-wicket defeat on home soil.
CCC captain Floyd Reifer has complimented his bowlers, but has complained that the batsmen on his side have failed to make use of the starts they have been getting in matches.
“We have been working hard at getting things right in the nets,” said the experienced left-handed batsman.
“We have been looking closely at the guys, looking for flaws, examining the ways they have been getting out in an effort to try and correct the problems.”
He added: “Right now, we have been working on the mental side of things. We are trying to get them to appreciate their preparation for the game. We have been talking about how to plan an innings, since it appears to me to be more of a mental thing than technical.
“But we will enter the match in a positive frame of mind, and try to forget all the things that happened in the previous games, and look forward. This is a developmental programme, and though we have lost the last two matches, we cannot hang our heads down. We have to keep improving and moving forward.”
Guyana’s policy of exposing young, unproven players continues to be fraught with peril, and they have suffered as a result.
After a bye in the first round, T&T led them on first innings in the second round in Antigua and in the previous round, Jamaica crushed them by an innings and 27 runs at Foursquare Oval here.
Guyana captain Sewnarine Chattergoon disclosed that his side has spent the last few days in Barbados wisely.
“We had three days off to sit down and look back at where things went wrong for us,” he said.
“We have spent quality time in the nets, and hopefully, we have worked out all the things that did not work for us, and we can play hard over the next four days.”
He said: “I think the CCC is a very competitive side. They have a few good cricketers, and we cannot take them lightly. We will have to improve the way we are playing right now. I think this is possible, and we can be successful.”
Since Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, their two most celebrated contemporary batsmen remain on the injured list, Guyana are affected like many other sides in this round of matches by the absences of a few key players.
The national selectors have brought batsman Gajanand Singh and all-rounder Christopher Barnwell in to replace Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine, both of whom are travelling to Australia with the West Indies for a series of limited-overs matches.
All-rounder Barnwell lost his spot in the side after a dismal showing in the regional limited-overs championship three months ago, but showed form with a hundred in a national practice match just before Christmas.
The left-handed Singh is a former West Indies Under-19 batsman, and made his last first-class appearance last year.
CCC have made two changes to their squad – Trinidad & Tobago all-rounder Kjorn Ottley and Barbados fast bowler Khismar Catlin have replaced Simon Jackson and Gilford Moore.
The teams have met three times in the last two years. On home soil in two of the matches, Guyana had gained first innings leads, when Chanderpaul and Sarwan were available.
But the CCC won the first-leg contest last year at the Three Ws Oval, when they claimed a 96-run triumph.
The Three Ws Oval pitch should play typically hard and true allowing batsmen to play their strokes freely, so bowling will be the key to victory, and the CCC would appear to have a few more resources at their disposal.
Squads: COMBINED CAMPUSES & COLLEGES: Floyd Reifer (captain), Ryan Austin, Jason Bennett, Khismar Catlin, Kyle Corbin, Romel Currency, Kavesh Kantasingh, Kevin McClean, Kjorn Ottley, Nekoli Parris, Omar Phillips and Chadwick Walton
GUYANA: Sewnarine Chattergoon (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Trevon Benn, Brandon Bess, Davendra Bishoo, Ravindra Chandrika, Derwin Christian, Esuan Crandon, Royston Crandon, Assad Fudadin, Veerasammy Permaul, Gajanand Singh and Vishaul Singh.
