After an entire week of fierce competition being played in the broiling sun, the Demerara Under-19 Cricket Team and their Berbice counterparts will do battle today at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground at Bourda (GCC) from 09:30 hrs in the final game of the Hand-in-Hand One-Day U-19 tournament.
Joel Spooner will be a dangerous factor with the ball
Demerara U-19 battled Essequibo U-19 on Friday last at this same ground, while 2018 champions, Berbice, battled a Guyana Select U-17 Team at the Everest Cricket Club ground on the northern outskirts of the city. In the end, both Berbice and Demerara emerged victors, to seal their spots in the finals.
While Berbice will be looking to retain their title after finishing at the top of the points table, Demerara will be keen to know what strategy their opponents will be bringing to the table, as they had previously lost to this Berbice side during the course of the week.
Ashmead Need on his follow through
Speaking exclusively with Guyana Times Sport in an interview, Demerara captain Ashmead Nedd said in response to being asked his view on his team booking a spot in the finale: “I feel very proud of the squad. It’s something we’ve been doing throughout the cricketing under-19 level. Majority of the times we have made it to the finals, we have faced Berbice; sometimes we overcame them, while there were times when we lost. But nevertheless, I am proud of the guys for putting their best foot forward to book a spot in the One-Day Finals despite having a bit of a letdown in the Three-Day format.”
Nedd also disclosed that the team are very familiar with the Berbice squad and their style of play, and when they hit the field today, they are not looking to have a repeat of the previous match played during the course of the week, in which they lost to Berbice. He noted that in the last game, during the round robin session, there were some minor mishaps in which the team were unable to pick up enough singles while batting, but related that it is something they will definitely be working on as they aim to demolish the Berbice side.
During the course of that match, Nedd was hit on the hand, but he has assured this publication that his hand would be one hundred per cent ready when he takes to the field today. As skipper of the Demerara Team, Nedd has proven to be valuable with both bat and ball during the latter stages of both innings.
The Demerara side would feature the in-form Adrian Hinds at the top of the order, and Alphius Bookie would be coming in to stabilise the middle order, as both batsmen were instrumental in the Demerara win over Essequibo, scoring 73 and 67* respectively.
Demerara will also be depending on Joel Spooner, who has been a valuable asset throughout the tournament, and has not been afraid to flight the ball to the batsmen, and draw them forward so he could trap their wickets before they could accumulate substantial scores.
Daniel Mootoo would also be one to keep an eye on, as he recently pawned 18 runs to bamboozle 4 of his opponents. Should Mootoo get everything right on this special day, he can make the Berbice batsmen pay the ultimate price.
The team winning the toss and electing to bat first have a higher chance of lifting the trophy, as the GCC pitch has proven to be difficult when chasing. There have been instances at the GCC ground when teams were batting comfortably and were on the verge of winning, but somehow lost their way and 8 or more wickets for less than 30 runs.
Whatever the outcome, this matchup promises to be a thriller as these two giants go to war.
