By Avenash Ramzan
Guyana missed the double this year, but the Bhaskar Yadram-led squad left St. Vincent and the Grenadines with the 50-over trophy, winning that version of the Regional Under-19 championship for the fifth year in a row.
The champion youth cricketers arrived in Guyana on Thursday afternoon, touching down to a warm welcome at the Eugene F. Correira International Airport at Ogle.
The successful youngsters were greeted by Cricket West Indies Director and Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, Anand Sanasie, and Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, as the stepped off the LIAT aircraft.
Both officials offered words of congratulations to the players, and wished them well in their future endeavours.
“You once again made us proud, Guyana as a nation, yourselves, the Cricket Board and West Indies Cricket,” Sanasie said. “I give you a challenge and you came back and basically delivered for us.”
Jones added, “Essentially you’ve created history and demonstrated why the Guyana Cricket Board and its leadership, in terms of its five-year plan, indeed the plan is working. So indeed the Guyana Cricket Board has a working plan and it is testimony to the results of these games you guys would have been playing.”
Coach Julian Moore, who has now added another title to his bulging collection, was understandably elated with the win in the 50-over competition, but a tad disappointed that his charges did not make a clean sweep as they did last year.
“Obviously we went there with the goal of winning both tournaments; that was first and foremost for us. It didn’tuquite go our way in the Three-day format. At the end of the Three-day we really did some soul-searching, and the guys were pretty much pumped up to go out there and not only win the one-day, but to really redeem themselves from the performances in the Three-day and we did just that,” Moore highlighted.
Skipper Yadram spoke of the area that the team fell short during the Three-day competition. He also praised the bowlers, especially the faster men, for their contributions to the 50-over success.
Yadram posited that “lack of concentration and self-confidence” hampered the team during the Three-day competition.
Guyana finished the 50-over tournament with 27.8 points, 5.5 more that second place Trinidad and Tobago. Jamaica ended third with 20 points, followed by Barbados (18.8), Windward Islands (17.2), Leeward Islands (8.8) and Canada (0.6).
In the Three-day competition, 2017 champions Guyana finished third on 23.4 points, with Trinidad and Tobago (45.2) lifting the title and Barbados (40.7) second.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The cricketers were presented with complimentary tickets to attend the upcoming Hero CPL games in Guyana. The gesture was made by Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, the owner of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise.
