The 2018 season of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) 50-over Franchise League is set to begin with four matches tomorrow.
For the month of September, there will be seven rounds of action running until September 27. This was confirmed by GCB Territorial Development Officer, Colin Stuart.
According to the official fixtures, tomorrow will see defending champions, Georgetown taking on East Coast at Lusignan; runners up Essequibo battling East Bank at Everest; Lower Corentyne and Upper Corentyne squaring up at Albion and West Berbice tackling West Demerara at Bush Lot.
Successful skipper, Leon Johnson has signalled his confidence in his side and their ability to retain the title.
“We are very confident going into Friday’s first game against East Coast, we have a good composition of players to defend our title,” Johnson, also the national skipper said.
“Seven games in 13 days won’t be easy, so we’ll have to be up for it mentally and physically. Our aim is to play smart cricket throughout and the results will take care of themselves,” he noted.
With Guyana Amazon Warriors reaching the final of the 2018 HERO Caribbean Premier League, a few of Guyana’s top players are set to miss the first few rounds of the tournament such as Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Sherfane Rutherford and others.
The league will also see a five-day break which, according to the GCB Territorial Development Officer, is to facilitate a Cricket West Indies fitness test for the contracted and academy players which is billed for September 22 and 23 at the Leonora Track and Field Facility.
The fixtures read:
September 15
West Berbice v Georgetown at GCC
Essequibo v East Coast at Lusignan
East Bank v Upper Corentyne at Port Mourant
West Demerara v Lower Corentyne at Albion
September 17
West Berbice v Lower Corentyne at Bush Lot
East Bank v East Coast at Enmore
Upper Corentyne v Georgetown at GCC
West Demerara v Essequibo at Everest
September 19
Lower Corentyne v Essequibo at Albion
Georgetown v East Bank at GCC
East Coast v West Demerara at Everest
West Berbice v Upper Corentyne at Port Mourant
September 24
Upper Corentyne v Essequibo at Port Mourant
Georgetown v West Demerara at Everest
East Bank v West Berbice at Bush Lot
Lower Corentyne v East Coast at Enmore
September 26
East Coast v West Berbice at Bush Lot
Georgetown v Essequibo at GCC
Lower Corentyne v East Bank at Everest
West Demerara v Upper Corentyne at Port Mourant
September 27
Essequibo v West Berbice at Bush Lot
East Bank v West Demerara at Everest
Lower Corentyne v Georgetown at GCC
East Coast v Upper Corentyne at Enmore
