The disastrous performance of Guyana's Carib Beer cricket team so far in this year's regional competition should be of considerable concern to all die-hard Guyanese cricket lovers.

Being beaten by ten wickets in the first round by Barbados, albeit amid allegations of ball tampering; and by six wickets, by Jamaica in the second, seems to suggest that all is not well with the team. While there was a lack of match preparation because of the inclement weather here, the team seems to lack the technical skills required for batting for long periods and putting together reasonable partnerships.

Is it that some players are not committed enough to the Guyana cause and are merely there for the ride? Except for two or three significant partnerships in the four completed innings on tour so far there has been a glaring deficiency in that department. In addition, the catching has been simply atrocious, putting additional pressure on the team's depleted bowling attack, which suffered from several injuries.

We hope that Andre Percival gains the nod in the next game against the Windwards in Dominica in place of either Travis Dowlin or Lennox Cush who have once again failed to deliver the goods.

We at Sportscope feel that the time is now right for an injection of fresh, new blood into the team in the form of younger players now emerging from the Guyana under-19 level. Sportscope's Guyana team for the matches at home reads: Andre Percival (captain), Krishna Arjune, Ryan Ramdass, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Leon Johnson, Neil Mc Garrell, Vishal Nagamootoo, Zaheer Mohamed, Rayon Thomas, Reon Griffith and Tyrell Tull (12th man).

Some may question our choices but we feel that it may be better to invest now in our youth than wait for more of the disasters that have been unfolding of late. We can only know if the youngsters are capable if they are allowed to play in matches. We cannot speculate about capabilities if they are not given the opportunities. Look at the Trinidad and Tobago senior team. They have invested heavily in Lendl Simmons and Tishan Maraj, who have both done reasonably well at the first class level. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Ramdin also from T&T leads the West Indies `B' side and has performed creditably. Guyana's Ryan Ramdass and Assad Fudadin have also done well and should have been in the senior squad in the first instance. While not in the same league, we can look at Zimbabwe's Tatenda Taibu and India's Parthiv Patel; youngsters who are in their countries' Test teams. Ravi Rampaul a recent West Indies under-19 graduate is virtually on the verge of selection into the senior West Indies team and in fact has already played in two ODIs.

A radical shake-up of the Guyana team may become necessary if we are to rescue our flagging fortunes at this time and to restore some of our lost pride. The Windwards whom we tackle next will certainly be no pushovers and as evidenced by their recent performances at the under-19 level where they are slowly but surely making huge strides. Guyanese should remember that the Windwards beat us in our own backyard in both the one-day and three-day tournaments at the semi-final stage last year in the TCL under-19 tournament.