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Berbice favoured to beat E’bo at Blairmont today
Norman Fredericks
Jonathon Foo
By Sean Devers
The decision by the competitions committee of the Guyana Cricket Board to leave the Rest team out of the Inter-County One-Day competition not only robs players, hard-done by their respective county Boards, the chance of national selection but also devalues the competition at a time when the standard of local cricket is at an all-time low.
The omission of the Rest side also robs the competition of suspense since most people would put their heads on a block that Demerara and Berbice will once again reach the final at the Guyana National Stadium.
Today at Blairmont, Essequibo who lost by 54 runs in their opening game to defending champions Demerara in Anna Regina, will hope to get the better of Berbice for the first time since their 1994 success and Essequibo fans will hope that the West Bank Berbice venue inspires them.
However, the reality is that although Essequibo is more competitive in the shorter version of the game, few would bet against Berbice today when the action in the 2nd round of the 9th annual El Dorado 50-overs Inter-County competition commence at 09:30hrs.
The Fredericks siblings, Norman and Norwayne are talented young openers and shared in a 71-run stand against Demerara in the opening round, but their inability to convert good starts into centuries at this level proves that talent without consistent production is of little use to the upward mobility of their careers.
Delon Heyliger, Ramesh Narine, Mohendra Boodram will also need to demonstrate more mental aptitude to their batting on what should be a slow turner if Essequibo hope to stand a chance of advancing to their first ever title since Inter-County cricket was first played in Guyana (then British Guiana) in 1954.
Essequibo should depend on their new ball bowlers (Trevon Garraway and Trevor
Benn) along with spinners Andrew Williams, Narine and Anthony Adams to restrict the batsmen in what should be sultry conditions.
In Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Assad Fudadin, Richard Ramdeen, Esuan Crandon, Delbert Hicks, Jonathon Foo, Veerasammy Permaul and Davendra Bishoo, Berbice have a long batting line-up while Crandon and Brandon Bess give them a competent new ball attack. Deonarine, Bishoo, Permaul, Chattergoon and Steven Latcha should take care of the spin.
Going to watch Essequibo play at the senior Inter-County level is like going to watch a movie when you already know the ending but missed a few parts in the middle.
Hopefully, for the sake of Guyana’s cricket and the GCB’s Competitions Committee, Essequibo can silence their critics with a win.
This seems as unlikely as expecting the West Indies side which returned winless from the Champions Trophy in South Africa to beat International teams.
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