GCB/Bel Air Rubis U-17 Inter-county tournament review…
By Brandon Corlette
Berbice U-17 opener, Mahendra Gopilall is fancying his chances of a Guyana U-17 selection after finishing with the most runs in the recently concluded Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Bel Air Rubis U-17 Inter-county tournament. The solid right-handed opener ended with 117 runs in three contrasting innings. He had scores of 58, 05 and 54*.
In the bowling department, off-spinners Alvin Mohabir and Jared Allicock ended with seven wickets to top the bowling charts in the three-match tournament. Mohabir, a former Guyana U-15 captain, had missed the first match for Demerara but in the second match where he got a bowl for the first time, he claimed five wickets against Berbice. In the final round, Mohabir grabbed two wickets to take his tally to seven.
Meanwhile, the right-arm offie Allicock, who played for Essequibo in the tournament grabbed seven wickets in three matches. In addition to Gopilall’s 117 runs, Guyana and West Indies youth player, Rampertab Ramnauth ended as the second-leading scorer with 104 runs. The left-handed class act, Ramnauth who is expected to play for both Guyana U-15 and Guyana U-17 in this year had a high score of 78 in this inter-county tournament.
His fellow West Indies U-16 teammate, Mavindra Dindyal ended with 102 runs with a high score of 50. He also recorded an attractive 40 in the final which saw him earned the player of the match award. Essequibo big hitter, Ronaldo Scouten ended with 88 runs. Having the reputation of being the cleanest hitter of the ball, Scouten had a top-performance when he scored 45 and got his name in the wicket columns.
Berbice second opener, Hemendra Gurdyal made 84 runs in three matches, getting starts on each occasion, where he looked promising. Essequibo’s captain Aryan Persaud, who scored a half-century in the tournament finished with 71 runs while the classy Jaden Campbelle had 69 runs for Demerara in the three matches he played. Berbice captain Zeynul Ramsammy who scored a fifty in the first round ended with 56 runs in three matches. He made six not out and failed to score against Demerara.
The other half-centurion was Shemar Yearwood who is tipped as the Guyana U-17 wicket-keeper. Yearwood made a match-winning 54 for Demerara against Guyana Select U-15s. A player who remains on the radar, Jonathan Rampersaud may not have had the best time with the bat after scoring only 26 runs but he claimed six wickets in three matches.
Hat trick boy and the man with a six-wicket haul, Leon Cecil had six wickets in the tournament along with Rudranauth Kissoon. Chandrapaul Ramraj, an established spinner at this level had four wickets and was rested in the third match since he is tipped for another Guyana U-17 selection.
Romel Daterdeen and Isai Thorne are the pacers on the watch for the Guyana U-17 team. Daterdeen had five wickets while Thorne, the fastest of them all at this level had four scalps.
Thaddeus Lovell may also be looked at for a possible selection, despite not having the best of tournaments, he is among those that proved their talents in the past. The Regional U-17 championship is very unfamiliar to the Guyanese trophy cabinet, but given the selection of the right team, anything is possible this year.
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