U-19 inter-county tournaments a yardstick for Guyana’s future

– Batsmen struggled, spinners dominate

By Brandon Corlette

The recently concluded Under-19 inter-county tournament was played in two formats, and saw Berbice reign supreme in the three-day format and Demerara completing a championship win in the 50-over one-day format.

Berbice opening batsman Alex Algoo was the lone centurion at the conclusion of both tournaments, while his teammate Kelvin Umroa had the most wickets in the tournament, which was dominated by spinners.
Among the spinners who were ‘among the wickets’ are Joel Spooner, Amit Persaud, Nigel Deodat, Ashmead Nedd; and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Junior Sinclair.
Sinclair, a Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) player, had taken 11 wickets and compiled 374 runs, the most by anyone in this year’s tournaments.
In second position on the batting charts was Algoo, who scored 356 runs, including a career best 175 against the Guyana Select U-17 Team in a three-day fixture at Everest. After that batting marathon, he scored only two half-centuries and a series of single-digit scores.
This Young Warriors player from East Canje in East Berbice has had the advantage of having played regional cricket in the past, and will be more determined to make a mark at that level in his final year at junior cricket.
The 2019 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional U-19 tournament that was played in the shorter format — the One-Day, 50-Over format — saw Sinclair, who had scored four half-centuries across both formats, scoring 179 runs and topping the charts.
Among the other (few) batsmen to aggregate 100+ runs was Alphius Bookie, who tallied 138 runs, and his Demerara teammate Adrian Hinds, who scored 130 runs. The batting in this tournament saw West Indies U-19 selectees Kevlon Anderson and Sachin Singh returning poor scores. In the one-day format, Anderson scored only 95 runs in four innings, while his ‘national’ teammate Singh scored 82 runs, returning an eye-catching 48 in the final after he was dropped in the previous match.
The bowling was headlined by West Indies U-19 selectee Umroa, who took 31 scalps across both formats, including five five-wicket hauls, with his left-arm spin. Off-spinning all-rounder Joel Spooner was among the promising talents, grabbing 22 wickets across both formats and scoring 100 runs.
Essequibo had little to talk about. Apart from Orlando Jailall and Kevin Christain who showed promise with the bat, Persaud, the off-spinner, was the topic of the team with his 19 wickets across both formats. He recorded six-wicket hauls against Berbice and Demerara in the three-day format.
Left-arm spinners Ashmead Nedd, Daniel Mootoo, and Nigel Deodat made merry with the ball. Nedd, the lone West Indies U-19 World Cup player, had seven wickets in the one-day format, while Deodat had 15 wickets across both formats for Berbice. Deodat, who plays for the West Berbice team Blairmont, has shown his ability as a three-dimensional player, scoring 110 runs and fielding in the slip cordons.
The Select U-17 Team was placed under a microscope throughout the tournaments, but gave a fair account of itself. Some of the star performers were Matthew Nandu, Andre Seepersaud, Sarwan Chaitnarine, Zeynul Ramsammy, Chanderpaul Ramraj and Mavindra Dindyal.
National U-19 quickie Qumar Torrington was the fastest bowler on show. He took seven wickets in the tournament, which saw a drought of wickets being taken by fast bowlers in contrast with the spinners. The multi-talented Anderson had 11 wickets with his right arm seam, while Leon Swamy took 6 wickets.
The game of the tournament was arguably between Demerara and Berbice at Lusignan. At no point in time was there a certain victor until the final day.
The Guyana U-19 Team will be selected from the pool of best players from Demerara and Berbice. But seeing the batting performance from both teams in that encounter, the selectors will have their work cut out to make the final call in regard to selectees to the final 14-member squad.
From my analysis and inspection of players in the tournaments, the 14 members of the Brandon Corlette Probable Squad reads: Sachin Singh, Junior Sinclair, Alex Algoo, Adrian Hinds (wk) Kevlon Anderson (vice-captain), Alphius Bookie, Garfield Benjamin, Seon Glasgow, Joel Spooner, Ashmead Nedd (captain), Kelvin Umroa, Nigel Deodat, Qumar Torrington, and Leon Swamy.