Guyana Cricket Board announced yesterday its 14-man squad for the upcoming Cricket West Indies Regional Super50 tournament with several changes to the Guyana Harpy Eagles line up.
Leon Johnson, who scored the most runs in the recently concluded inter-county tournament returns as captain of the side while Veerasammy Permaul, who led Berbice to the Inter-County title is vice-captain.
Essequibo’s Quinten Sampson earns a place in the squad which also sees the return of Clinton Pestano, Sherfane Rutherford and Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
The team features three wicketkeeper batsmen, Anthony Bramble and Kemol Savory, both of whom scored centuries in the inter-county tournament and Tevin Imlach who recently represented West Indies A. Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Nial Smith and Kevin Sinclair complete the team.
Visibly missing from the team are Chandrapaul Hemraj and Keemo Paul who, according to the GCB are both injured. Christopher Barnwell, Steven Sankar, Jonathan Foo, Kevon Boodie, Ronsford Beaton, Akshaya Persaud, Trevon Griffith, Shamar Joseph and Suresh Dhani were unfortunate to miss out on spots in the 14-man squad.
From a management standpoint, Ryan Hercules has been promoted from Assistant coach to Head coach, replacing Esuan Crandon. No indication was given if Crandon was unavailable or sacked.
Hercules will have the services of Garvin Nedd in the role of Assistant coach while Albert Smith is the manager. Angelica Holder and Kishava Ramphal will serve as the physiotherapist and analyst respectively.
The tournament bowls off on October 31, with preliminary matches in Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua. Guyana Harpy Eagles opening their campaign against Windward Islands Volcanoes in a Day/Night encounter.
This year’s Regional Tournament will comprise two groups in the preliminary rounds.
Zone A consists of Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (TTRF), Combine Campuses and Campuses (CCC), Windward Island Islands Volcanoes (WV), and Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE).
Zone B consists of Leeward Island Hurricane, Jamaica Scorpions, Barbados Pride, and a CWI Academy Team.
The Zone A teams will play their preliminary matches in Trinidad, and preliminary matches for Zone B teams will be played in Antigua. The semi-finals and final will be played in Antigua.
