The Guyana Harpy Eagles cricket team Saturday departed Guyana to participate in the Cricket West Indies four-day championship opening round.
Prior to their departure, the team met with ezecutives of the Guyana Cricket Board.
The Harpy Eagles side departed local shores at 05.00 hours bound for Antigua where they will open their campaign against defending champions, Barbados Pride, at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium from tomorrow.
The second-round match against Windwards Volcanoes will begin on February 8 in Grenada, after which, the side will return home for a one-month break between the second and third round.
Meeting with the 13-man squad and management prior to their departure was GCB president Bissoondyal Singh and his executives.
According to a release from the GCB, the president met with the players and management to encourage them to remain focussed on the task at hand, which is to regain regional four day cricket supremacy, noting Guyana’s dominance over the competition for five consecutive years prior to 2020.
The squad will once again be led by Leon Johnson and will have veteran spinner, Veerasammy Permaul, as his deputy. At least two players will make their first-class debuts in the opening round with four newbies listed in the 13-member squad. The players are top order batsman Matthew Nandu, wicketkeeper/batsman Kemol Savory, fast bowler Shamar Joseph and left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd. Nedd and Savory have already made their List-A debuts.
This will be the first assignment for Ryan Hercules since assuming the role of head coach.
Eagles will be without the services of left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie and opening batsman, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who are with the West Indies side preparing to face Zimbabwe in two Test matches as well as established players in Keemo Paul, Shimron Hetmyer and Romario Shepherd.
The Harpy Eagles squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice-captain), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Matthew Nandu, Kemol Savory, Tevin Imlach, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Ronsford Beaton, Akshaya Persaud, Ashmead Nedd, Shamar Joseph. The Manager is Albert Clements, Head coach Ryan Hercules, Assistant coach is Garvin Need, Cricket analyst is Keshava Ramphal and the physiotherapist Angelica Holder.
