By Avenash Ramzan
A confident Essequibo team will hunt Inter-county glory on Tuesday when they come against a rampant Berbice unit in the 50-over day/night final at the National Stadium, Providence.
While the Berbicians were unbeaten in their preliminary matches, the Essequibians have been playing solid cricket, winning two of their three matches, including toppling a strong Demerara side.
Game time is 14:00h and admission to the venue is free.
Form guide (most recent game first) W- win, L- Loss, NR- No-Result
Berbice: W W NR
Essequibo: W L W
Tournament results:
Berbice: defeated Demerara by 189 runs; defeated Essequibo by 26 runs (DLS); No-Result against GCB President’s XI
Essequibo: defeated GCB President’s XI by eight wickets; lost to Berbice by 26 runs (DLS); defeated Demerara by 10 runs
From all indications, a large band of Essequibo supporters is expected to flock the Stadium for the championship contest, which should be highly competitive, given the intense showdown between the two sides in the preliminary round.
At the GCC ground, Berbice pulled off a 26-run win under the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method after bad light ended play against the Essequibians.
Had that game played to the end, the result could have been different as the Essequibo bowlers, backed by vociferous supporters in the Rohan Kanhai Stand, were making inroads into Berbice batting.
When the game ended, Berbice were 144-4 from 26 overs, chasing 227 from 49 overs.
Essequibo will look to their senior players to step up on Tuesday, the likes of Keemo Paul and Ronsford Beaton, who both picked up four wickets each against Demerara, skipper Anthony Adams, Ricardo Adams, the in-form Kemol Savory, with a hundred and fifty in the competition, and Kevon Boodie and Quintin Sampson, both with fifties in the competition, if they are to lift a first Senior 50-over Inter-county title.
In their way though is a tried and tested Berbice team, clearly the stronger and more experienced unit on paper.
Led by the veteran spinner Veerasammy Permaul, the Berbicians are certainly not short on championship pedigree, but coach Julian Moore would know all too well cricket is played on the day.
If there is pressure on any team, it would be Berbice as history would give them the advantage, having traditionally been the powerhouse in Inter-county cricket.
With the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Anthony Bramble and Jonathan Foo, Berbice are sure to start as favourites, but they are up against an Essequibo unit that has belief and strong 12th man support beyond the boundary.
Livestream
Meanwhile, the Guyana Cricket Board, in a release on Monday evening, highlighted that the match will be livestreamed globally, following a partnership that is now in its “testing stage.”
“(The match) will be livestreamed in the subcontinent, comprising of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan through a partnership agreement will with a promotion firm registered in India. This partnership arrangement is now in the testing stage of Guyana’s Cricket Product,” the GCB said.
President Bissoondyal Singh added, “To date, we have livestreamed all matches in this tournament and have engaged a potential commercial partner to assist in the promotion of the game beyond the boundaries of Guyana and the West Indian region.”
Berbice: Veerasammy Permaul (Captain); Kevlon Anderson; Shimron Hetmyer; Rampertab Ramnauth; Jonathan Foo; Anthony Bramble; Jason Sinclair; Romario Shepherd; Clinton Pestano; Junior Sinclair; Kevin Sinclair; Gudakesh Motie; Nial Smith and Demetri Cameron.
Essequibo: Antony Adams (Captain); Ricardo Adams; Kevon Boodie; Quintin Sampson; Kemol Savory; Neiland Cadogan; Nathan Persaud; Garfield Phillips; Eknauth Persaud; Haimant Singh; Wasim Mohamed; Kevin Christian; Ronsford Beaton and Keemo Paul. Reserves: Joshua Jones, Leo Ryan Ramlakhan, Akini Adams, Avinash Persaud, Shane Wong, and Ricardo Peters.
The Inter-county competition is being used by the Senior National Selection Panel to select the Guyana Harpy Eagles squad to compete in the Cricket West Indies’ CG United Super50 Cup from October 29 to November 19.
The Harpy Eagles’ first game is on October 31 against Windward Islands Volcanoes at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad.
