Weakened TT tackle Guyana

NEW AMSTERDAM: As Guyana and most other teams are strengthened by the return of their West Indies players, Trinidad and Tobago have gotten significantly weaker for their Carib Beer Series sixth-round clash against Guyana starting today. The West Indies trio of champion batsman Brian Lara (hand), Ricardo Powell (hamstring) and Mervyn Dillon (knee) are injured and will miss out. In addition, exciting opener Sherwin Ganga has been forced out after being hit on the chin by Jamaican pacer Darren Powell in the last match while there seems to be confusion as to why two of three others were not included. Shazam Babwah, Imran Jan and Dave Mohammed were reported to have been excluded on disciplinary grounds but coach David Williams told the local media in Guyana that Jan and Mohamed were injured.

Babwah’s father died during the last round and the player left the team after the first day of the game at Alpart Sports Club, to be with his family in Trinidad. On the flip side, Guyana will be buoyed by the return of their three West Indies players though they have lost spin stalwart Neil McGarrell to a groin injury. The teams will square off in the four-day encounter at the Albion Community Development ground in Berbice after excessive flood waters caused the match to be moved from Bourda in Georgetown. Guyana, joint fourth on 22 points, will unquestionably have their batting immensely fortified by their premier batsmen, the West Indies duo of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who will also take over the captaincy and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who has been having a grand time on the international stage.

Also returning for Guyana is fast bowler Reon King who, like Chanderpaul and Sarwan, has recently returned from Australia. King’s availability along with that of other first choice pacer Esuan Crandon, has caused the Guyana selectors to take the tough choice of leaving out rookie Trevon Garraway who in his debut season has preformed creditably. The one low point for Guyana is left arm spinner Neil McGarrell being forced to rest as a result of his injury. The supporting cast of the Guyana batting is Sewnarine Chattergoon, who returns from a thigh injury after scoring an even hundred; Ryan Ramdass, who has found good form with the tournament’s highest score (144*), along with the classy Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin.

King and Mahendra Nagamootoo, now the regional tournament’s most successful wicket-taker, will have to do the lion’s share of the bowling with support from Crandon and Deonarine who, with 14 wickets is statistically, Guyana’s leading bowler. The return of Dwayne Bravo, the inspirational all-rounder, is the one area of significant pleasure for the Trinidadians, who lie third in the standings on 24 points. However, Bravo carrying a shoulder injury from Australia will not be able to bowl or throw with power, which is likely to affect his world renowned athleticism in the field. His forceful middle order batting though will be a handsome benefit for TT. Captain Darren Ganga who has only tallied 141 runs with one half century thus far, will need to put more runs on the tins especially with his younger brother, Jan and Babwah all missing.

Lendl Simmons, Gibran Mohammed, Imran Khan and Jonathan Augustus, the young batch of batsmen for Trinidad, will have big asks to stabilise the middle order with solid partnerships. In the lower order, wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin and Richard Kelly the medium pacer, has had one significant half century each. Ramdin’s 173 runs are the most by a Trini. Kelly, and possibly Keron Lynch (or perhaps Rayad Emrit) will look for early wickets as they take the sheen off the new ball then hand over to Amit Jaggernauth and either Samuel Badree or Rishi Bachan, to slice through the Guyana batting. Kelly has been Trinidad’s most potent bowler with 14 wickets thus far while Jaggernauth (11), Lynch (10) and Emrit (10) have all managed double figures. The pitch is expected to be no different than the low track that has become customary and given that both teams will rely heavily on spin, both will want to avoid batting last.

TEAMS:
GUYANA: S Chanderpaul (captain), R Ramdass, S Chattergoon, R Sarwan, N Deonarine, A Fudadin, D Daesrath, M Nagamootoo, V Nagamootoo, E Crandon, R King, L Cush and I Jafarally.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: D Ganga (captain), I Khan, L Simmons, D Bravo, J Augustus, G Mahabir, D Ramdin, R Kelly, R Emrit, A Jaggernauth, R Bachan, K Lynch, S Badree.