Usually a force to reckon with at the Regional level, Guyana suffered a disappointing year at the Cricket West Indies youth tournaments where they failed to lift any of the three titles.
Technical glitch in Antigua?
In Antigua, Guyana Under-15 side came the closest to bringing home the silverware.
In fact, had it not been an alleged failure to declare a bowler as a seamer in order to gain fast bowling points, Guyana would have been crowned champions.
The national U15 side, despite beating eventual champions Trinidad and Tobago in the final round had to settle for second position with just 0.1 point making the difference, which equates to one fast bowling bonus point.
Against Jamaica, Guyana, who finished second in 2018 as well, did not get a fast bowling point but against Windward Islands, Thaddeus Lovell, a known pacer took 2-35 in supporting front-line pacer, Isai Thorne who had 3-59 in the match.
Thorne continued to take wickets including one against Trinidad, 2-66 against Barbados, 4-37 against Leeward Islands where another backup seamer, Omari Lallbachan also claimed 1-34.
With six points per win, totaling 24 and 13 fast bowling wickets, the Julian Moore-coached and Latchman Yadram-managed Guyana should have finished on 25.3 points, ahead of Trinidad by 0.1 point.
Looking at the bright spots in the competition, three Guyanese elevated themselves in the West Indies U16 unit.
For Mavindra Dindyal it was his second outing while Rampertab Ramnauth and Isai Thorne were the newbies.
Dindyal finished the tournament as the Most Valuable Player. He scored the most runs and stepped up to the role as wicketkeeper. Ramnauth finished with the second highest run aggregate while Thorne was promising with his speed and wicket taking ability.
Horses for Courses in TT?
Shifting over to the intermediate junior level, U17, the only title Guyana has never won continues to elude in Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, this year was by far the most disappointing run for the usual powerhouse with eyebrows raised over the selection of the side.
Guyana U17s, coached by Orin Bailey and managed by Nazeer Mohamed suffered four defeats and a washed out game in the five matches. This condemned them to the bottom of the table for the first time in the tournament’s history, raising concerns about the standard of the Inter County tournament which was used as the yardstick for selecting the team.
The selection policy also came under scrutiny after Jonathan Rampersaud (six wickets and 56 runs), Shamar Yearwood (most dismissals for wicket keeper), Trevon Charles who has been one of the leading seamers at the youth level were not given the nod.
Also, Zachary Jodah (highest average), Alvin Mohabir (most wickets) and especially Daniel Motoo were overlooked. Motoo, in fact, finished as the leading wicket taker in the under-19 level where selectors had no choice but to pick him at that level.
Contrastingly, players were selected despite their sub-par performances and some failing to tally 10 runs in five innings.
The bright spots in the competition, however, solidified the talents of a few for the future. Sheldon Charles continues to excel while Andre Seepersaud, Matthew Nandu, Dindyal, Marvan Prashad, Sarwan Chaitnarine and Chandrapaul Ramraj continue to grow.
Tough luck in St. Vincent and the Grenadines?
Guyana arrived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines with lots of expectations as the five-time defending champions in the U19 competition but failed to retain the title.
The Moore-coached and Andy Ramnarine-managed unit settled for third with two wins and one loss in a rain-hit tournament. Eventual winners, Barbados, like Guyana had two no-results but won their three matches to take the title while Windward Islands finished as runners up with two wins and three no-results.
Only Kimani Melius of St Lucia had an aggregate of over 100 runs.
For Guyana, Kevlon Anderson (88) and Sachin Singh (79) finished as the third and fourth highest run getters. With the ball, Ashmead Nedd was the leading bowler with six wickets and his fellow left-arm spinner, Kelvin Umroa as well as seamers, Qumar Torrington and Anderson had five wickets each.
These performances earned Nedd, Anderson, Umroa and Singh call-ups to the West Indies Youth World Cup training squads with the former two making it into the side.
Looking towards 2020, Guyana will need to set their sights on improving on their preparation. While it is commendable having the younger unit participate in the higher age group Inter-County competition, the break between playing competitively and entering the regional tournament seems to be too long and can possibly contribute to poor performances.
In addition, the selectors will need to pay more emphasis on performances by the players in the local competitions and keep an eye on them as they move forward. Not only should performances at the Inter-County level be considered but the displays by the players in their association and club level tournaments.
Guyana has talented players. However, the talent needs to be harvested and groomed properly if the teams are to stand any chance of winning regional youth titles next year.
