GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (CMC) - Traditional powerhouses Guyana and Leeward Islands find themselves in a very unaccustomed position after three rounds of the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series and will seek to put things right in their fourth round match, starting today at Enmore Community Centre, ground.
Having zero points, three consecutive away losses, uneasiness in their camp, the dropping of four players including international leg-spin bowler Mahendra Nagamootoo, has dogged Guyana ahead of the match.
With Leewards in seventh position on nine points, the match is a bottom-of-the-table tussle, more for pride than for position between two teams that have been recent winners of the West Indies first-class championship.
Guyana will have to band together and overcome the unpredictable batting of the Leewards if they are to register their first points for the year.
The Guyanese, usually a team that boasts batting prowess equivalent to most others in the competition have now turned to an exciting, but untested 16-year-old, who was last year overlooked for the national Under-19 squad.
The left-handed Leon Johnson is one of four replacements coming into the squad, joining all-rounder Damodar Daesrath, left-arm spinner Hemnarain Harrinarian and former Young West Indies all-rounder Zaheer Mohamed.
The shocker from the selectors was not so much the selection of the 16-year-old, who struck a century for Demerara on his inter-county debut last year, but rather the dropping of seasoned campaigner Nagamootoo on whom Guyana’s spin bowling burden has fallen for several years now.
His exclusion has not been officially explained and there has been widespread speculation about his conduct. The other players omitted are Lennox Cush, Azeemul Haniff and Andre Percival.
While the Guyanese batting has been several rungs below par throughout, the Leewards have shown some batting brilliance.
Against Kenya, the visitors blasted the highest total in the history of the regional first-class competition, but against the unfancied West Indies-B they fell for 171 and 224 to lose that match when they should have been chalking up crucial points.
So far, Guyana lost by 10 wickets to Barbados, by 6 wickets to Jamaica and by 131 runs to Windwards.
Leewards lost first innings points to Trinidad & Tobago, but drew the match as they did with Kenya. That time their massive total secured first innings points, but they faltered badly with the bat against the young development side to lose by seven wickets.
Guyana’s batting has been in the doldrums, they have only passed 250 once (321 v Barbados) and only one other score has reached 200 (222 v Jamaica). No batsman has yet registered a century.
Krishna Arjune got the closest with 97 against Barbados. The other opener Sewnarine Chattergoon has two scores over 50 (85 & 68) to his name, while Narsingh Deonarine, on whom Guyana’s run-scoring heavily depends, has only registered one half-century (69).
On the other hand, the Leewards’ batsmen have shown form from one time to another. Sylvester Joseph (195), Carl Tuckett (142) and Stuart Williams (105) have all gotten hundreds, while Tonito Willet (93), Alex Adams (90) and Shane Jeffers (74) got big 50s early, but have not sustained their form.
With the Guyana spinners always being the torment of regional batsmen, it is a mild surprise that fast bowler Rayon Griffith has registered the best bowling figures -- six for 44 against Windwards.
Nagamootoo and captain Neil McGarrell, who usually share the bulk of the wickets, have only managed a couple of four-wicket hauls so far. With Nagamootoo out, McGarrell will have to do the lion’s share of the work though Harrinarian can bowl very long, restrictive spells even if his wicket-taking capabilities are limited.
Leewards’ bowling will be boosted with the return of fast bowler Dane Weston, who swaps with the injured Elsroy Powell. West Indies fast bowler Adam Sanford is expected to share the new ball with the steady Kerry Jeremy on what is expected to be another typically low and slow Guyana track.
Virgil Browne, the left-arm spinner, in his debut season is likely to give the Guyana batsmen their most major worries. He blew away Trinidad & Tobago with eight for 129 and ended with a match haul of 10 for 213.
Leewards bat deep and their bowling too, has a variety of options extending to the medium pace of all-rounders Wilden Cornwall and Tonito Willett.
Leewards can call on the resolve they showed against Kenya. Guyana though would have to show spirit and commitment, which has evaded them all season long. With the Test players away in South Africa, the youngsters again have another opportunity to show their worth.
Teams:
GUYANA (from): Neil McGarrell (captain) Sewnarine Chattergoon, Krishna Arjune, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Damodar Daesrath, Leon Johnson, Zaheer Mohamed, Vishal Nagamootoo, Rayon Griffith, Esaun Crandon, Rayon Thomas, Hemnarain Harrinarian.
LEEWARD ISLANDS (from): Stuart Williams (captain), Alex Adams (vice-captain), Wilden Cornwall, Sylvester Joseph, Shane Jeffers, Tonito Willett, Carl Tuckett, Jason Williams, Virgil Browne, Dane Weston, Kerry Jeremy, Chaka Hodge, Adam Sanford.