As the Region prepares for its premier limited overs tournament, which will be played in Barbados and Antigua from January 24, Guyana Times Sport have decided to review some cricketers that were dominant at the youth level and were earmarked to progress to the senior division but have failed to do so or have not commanded a place in First Class cricket.
Shawn Pereira
Such talents have either washed away totally from cricket or have migrated thus ending their bid for higher cricket calling.
Lost in the Mix takes you down memory lane with a look at Karan Ganesh, Zaheer Saffie and Shawn Perreira.
Karan Ganesh
Shawn Pereira, is a player with good knowledge of the game thus he was entrusted with the captaincy at the under-15 and 19 levels for the national teams. He is a right-arm leg-spinner from Berbice, where he plays for the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club. He made his debut for, and also captained, the Guyana Under-19 team in Barbados in 2012, and took 6 for 40 in his very first Under-19 match.
Zaheer Saffie
At the club’s annual awards in 2011, he was named Under-15 Bowler and Cricketer for 2010. However, at 20 his name is not reigning in domestic cricket, but he had some key performance late last year in the Jaguars Franchise League for his team, Upper Corentyne.
At the moment in Guyana’s cricket the former youth captain will have to drastically improve his game if he is to surpass the likes of national spinners Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie, Eon Hooper and Steven Jacobs. The mountain may seem too high for him to climb but with the potential shown at the youth level anything is possible for Pereira.
Karan Ganesh is a talented former youth all-rounder, who dominated cricket locally at the youth level, was a constant member of national youth teams but never progressed to the senior set up. He was one of the players lost to migration. However, the right hand batsman and off break bowler, who is 30 years old, presently resides in the USA where he also plays cricket. Ganesh featured in nine T20 matches from 2013-2015 for the USA. Periodically he would return to the land of his birth (Guyana) with touring club teams from the USA.
Like Ganesh, Zaheer Saffie reigned at youth competitions but migrated shortly after his youth days were over. Saffie was an outstanding right handed batsman, who featured for several years as one of the top youth batsmen. Although he was so dominant in youth cricket he did not stick around to seek a place in the senior team. He still plays cricket in the USA, but whether as a career or a pastime it is unknown.
This brings the Guyana Times Sport to the final chapter of Lost in the Mix. We would like to wish the Guyana Jaguars the best in 2017.
