By Brandon Corlette
Defending champions Berbice and arch-rivals Demerara will go head to head in the final of the Guyana Cricket Board senior inter-county Super50 tournament at GCC Bourda from 9:00h, local time.
The Berbicians are a star studded unit with a host of National and international players while Demerara are equipped with some National and players with International experience. West Indies Test opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul will be the key man for Demerara while his fellow opener Chandrapaul Hemraj will be aiming to convert his starts into a big score.
Chanderpaul, who had back-to-back player of the match performances, scoring unbeaten 70 and 93 will want to go into triple figures.
Sherfane Rutherford has shown his all-round prowess thus far for Demerara and he will want to come good against the mighty Berbicians.
Shirmon Hetmyer, who played in the last match and scored 23, will want to allow his bat to do the talking with a big score, in a tournament which had no century by a batsman thus far.
The red-hot Kevin Sinclair will be a force to reckon with as he started this inter-county tournament with a bang, claiming 7-15 against the same Demerara team, and scoring 81 in the following match.
All-rounder Romario Shepherd, who had a player of the match performance with a four-wicket haul against Essequibo in round three, will be a dangerous customer.
Captain Veerasammy Permaul, who had a five-wicket haul, and Gudakesh Motie, who has been consistent, will certainly be a threat for the city boys.
It is safe to say that in this tournament, no team has scored 300 runs in their allotted 50 overs, and batsmen must come good as the Regional Super50 tournament looms large.
Who will partner Tage at the top for Guyana Harpy Eagles
The selectors have certainly have the names for the 14-man squad for the Guyana Harpy Eagles, but with the exception of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, no opener has been consistent in this inter-county tournament. Matthew Nandu will play for West Indies Academy, therefore, the Ramnaresh Sarwan-led selection panel will have one less opening option to choose from.
Rampertab Ramnauth, a contracted player with the Harpy Eagles, has had scores of 00, 00, and 04 in the three matches he played thus far. Hemraj, who had scores of 30 and 02 might as well be Chanderpaul’s opening partner.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles squad should be announced shortly, and most of the players with National and international experience will be in the 14-man squad to Trinidad, that will play the Regional Super50 from October 17.
Beaton and Paul?
Question marks are around Ronsford Beaton and Keemo Paul, in relation to injury. Paul has not featured in this inter-county and Beaton has struggled in the games he played. Right-arm seam-bowling all-rounder, Quentin Sampson, who was selected in the previous Super50 squad and did not play a match, has been picking wickets and showing his aggression with the bat.
In fact, Sampson has picked up two four-wicket hauls in this inter-county. Samspon had 4-18 against Select XI, scored 32 against Demerara and claimed 4-25 against a strong Berbice team. With his experience, he will be the man to attempt to fill the void of Paul and Beaton, and provide cover for Smith, Shepherd and Joseph in the seam-bowling department.
Cricnation592 Probable Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Veerasammy Permaul (captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kevlon Anderson, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Tevin Imlach (wk), Kemol Savory, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Kevin Sinclair, Shamar Joseph, Nial Smith and Quentin Sampson.
Note: Keemo Paul and Ronsford Beaton have injury concern
Squads for tomorrow’s final
Berbice squad: Rampertab Ramnauth, Kevin Sinclair, Kevlon Anderson, Seon Hetmyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd, Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul (C), Nial Smith, Shamar Joseph, Clinton Pestano, Nigel Deodat, Seon Glasgow and Kwesi Mickle.
Demerara Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Mavendra Dindyal, Tevin Imlach (C), Sherfane Rutherford, Akshaya Persaud, Ronaldo Ali Mohamed, Richie Looknauth, Qumar Torrington, Banerd Bailey, Steven Sankar, Brandon Jaikaran, Devon Lord, Floyd Joseph.