GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC - Guyana will be desperate for full points against bottom-of-the-table Kenya in their final preliminary match of the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series, starting at Bourda Oval today.
Having won their last two matches against Trinidad & Tobago and West Indies-B, the Guyanese are now on 28 points after not picking up a point from their first three matches, losing all outright.
In addition to needing full points to qualify for a semifinal place, Guyana would be dependent on the outcome of other games. They would be counting mostly on repeat Carib Beer Cup champions Barbados beating Trinidad & Tobago outright to edge past that team with 40 points.
Having won their previous match by an innings and four runs against West Indies-B, the Guyanese are unlikely to make any changes.
One option though is that of playing an extra bowler and asking one of the all-rounders or middle-order batsmen to move up to open the batting with Sewnarine Chattergoon instead of using struggling opener Krishna Arjune.
If the change is made then it would most likely be Zaheer Mohamed, the debutant off-spinning all-rounder, who bagged seven wickets in his first two matches, coming in ahead of Esaun Crandon.
With their Test batsmen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, returning for the last round, Guyana’s batting has been beefed up considerably. In addition, Travis Dowlin, Narsingh Deonarine and Sewnarine Chattergoon have all done well.
Dowlin is in top form at home, smashing two half-centuries in two matches for a total of 357 runs, which is the most by any Guyanese. In the last match, the little right-hander narrowly missed out on a century, getting 94 before a stunning Shawn Findlay catch ended his innings.
Deonarine - second with 303 runs - too, has scored two hometown 50s of his three overall this season and will be desperate to notch up a hundred to remind the West Indies selectors of his potential.
Chanderpaul, who only got 18 in Guyana’s 419 in the previous match, will also want to use the opportunity to find some form ahead of the England tour starting next month in Jamaica.
Guyana’s bowling would be spearheaded, as usual, by leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, who picked up seven wickets and the man-of-the-match award in the last match after returning from a two-match suspension.
Neil McGarrell, who handed the captaincy over to Chanderpaul upon his return from international duties in South Africa and who picked up six wickets against the Windies-B, will also be a force the Kenyans will have to overcome, along with pacer Rayon Griffith and medium-pacer Damodar Daesrath.
The Kenyans, sitting on 16 points at the bottom of the table and out of contention for a semifinal place, will be playing more for pride and the experience than anything else.
With their captain Steve Tikolo lamenting this week how crucial exposure in the four-day version of the game is if they are going to achieve Test status, the Africans would be keen on ending the round on a high, particularly after being beaten in three days by Windward Islands in the previous round.
They have been pegged back by the loss of Ravindu Shah and Maurice Odumbe, who both sustained fractured bones against the Windwards. Shah fractured a finger, while Odumbe fractured a toe after being hit by Fernix Thomas.
The Kenyans will heavily rely on Tikolo and Kennedy Otieno, their leading run-scorer with 439 runs, to produce on what should be a typically flat Guyana pitch. Odumbe, who bowls off-spin and has taken the most wickets (24) for Kenya in the competition, will be greatly missed and it would mean that Tikolo and Peter Ogondo would have extended bowling duties.
With this being Mashramani weekend -- Guyana’s republic anniversary celebrations -- the crowds are expected to turn out in large numbers to see their local stars take the field in what will be Guyana’s last four-day match of the season, if they fail to qualify.
The Bourda pitch, typically devoid of any grass, is likely to play as it has always done, favouring strokeplay and run-scoring rather than offering much to the bowlers.
Squads:
Guyana: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Krishna Arjune, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Vishal Nagamootoo, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Damodar Daesrath, Neil McGarrell, Zaheer Mohamed, Rayon Griffith and Esaun Crandon.
Kenya: Steve Tikolo (captain), Martin Suji, Peter Ongondo, Maurice Odumbe, Hitesh Modi, Brijal Patel, Lameck Onyango, Alfred Luseno, Kennedy Otieno (wicketkeeper), Maurice Ouma, Francis Otieno, Collins Obuya, Ravindu Shah & Rageb Aga.