In its heyday, Bourda was known as the batting paradise in the Caribbean because of the traditional friendly batting conditions and customary big scores.
The inaugural edition of the Banks Beer/Maximum Vodka Big Man Cricket is set to conclude this weekend with players of yesteryear looking to roll back the years at a familiar venue and they should brace for familiar conditions.
According to Head Curator of the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC), Basil Shewram lots of runs should be scored. Despite the regular showers in the city, Shewram said the pitch and outfield are in good conditions and will add to the excitement when the veterans from four different geographic locations of Guyana take the field.
In semi-final one, city side GT Royal Rangers will take on West Demerara Warriors from 09:00h, then at 13:00h Jai Hind Jaguars from the Corentyne will battle Essequibo Eagles. The respective winners will go on to the inaugural final on Sunday from noon with G$500,000 cash and other incentives up for grabs.
Captain of the GT Royal Rangers, Shuan Massiah said, “We are going into the semi-finals to win. We have a good bunch of ‘Big Men’ and we will come out with a positive mindset to win. The guys are pumped up and looking forward to the resumption and were putting in the hours leading up to the semifinals to get into the winning frame of mind.”
Meanwhile, Massiah’s opposite number Seecharran Persaud of West Bank Warriors said his side is very experienced and will treat the game like any other and play hard cricket. “We are a bunch of mature guys that have been together a long time. We will back our strength, our bowling to get us over the line if we are bowling first or second.”
Teams
GT Royal Rangers: Shaun Massiah (Captain), Kervin Ross, Nadir Baksh, Bashur Khan, Suresh Sookram, Mustafaa Azimullah, Oslyn Batson, Tajenarine Ramroop, Carlos Reid, Arthur Duke, Lorex Evans, Oswald Fraser, Newton Parks, Frank Ganpat, Dexter Jones, Davanand Sankar, Ravi Singh and Narvin Roopdeo.
West Bank Warriors: Seecharran Persaud (Captain), Ravindranauth Persaud, Sohan Bedesse, Steve Haripal, Mohamed Abid Haniff, Ganesh Persaud, Deoram Persaud, Ram Tulsie, Patrick Khan, Andrew Budhan, Chatterpaul Singh, Patrice Stewart, Rahim Hussain, Anthony Ifill and Seenarine Matura.
Jai Hind Jaguars: Veerapen Moonsammy (Captain), Deoprakash Ramdat, Narine Deonarine, Ramlinggum Mangali, Subramani Mangali, Hasanalli Hussain, Imranalli Hussain, Kamraj Sumair, Anil Beharry, Rafeek Kassim, Yusuf Mohamed, John Percival and Deonarine Rangasammy.
Essequibo Eagles: Bhesham Seepersaud (Captain), Ramesh Narine, Latchmikant Narine, Davenand Mahadeo, Ritchie Bishop, Indar Rampersaud, Dharmendra Lakhan, Manoj Lall, Jainantilall Lall, Balbadar, Ishwar Singh, Raj Rambarack, Deopaul Drepaul, Darshanan Lall, Kurt Jones, Barry Alphonso, Fazeer Khan, Dharandeo Lall, Rayburn Gonsalves (Player/Coach), Linden Daniels (Player/Assistant Manager) and Trevis Simon (Manager).
The umpires for the day are Eddie Nicolls and Linden Matthews. Live streaming will be done on the Big Man Cricket Facebook page.
