It’s Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo, USA
Tri-County Cricket Championship Revs Up

By John L. Aaron
August 7th, 2008
The three major counties of the South American nation of Guyana, will travel North to New York City next month. Well, not exactly, but their North American representative teams will do battle on Saturday, August 16th, at Idlewild Park, Rosedale, Queens.

Insaf “Birdman” Ali

Playing for pride, bragging rights and whatever else comes their way, will be the three star-studded teams featuring cricket players who take their cricket very seriously, while some others will be quite contented to simply be selected to represent the three major counties in Guyana. The tri-county rivalry goes back a bit, but in recent times Insaf “Birdman” Ali of 2A’s Mechanical, Inc., has stepped up to provide adequate sponsorship of the growing event.

This year the Birdman has assembled an all-star management team to run the tournament in conjunction with a benefit and dinner, in honor of former Guyana and West indies Test player Sew Shivnarain. The benefit dinner for Shivnarain is being organized by some cricket enthusiasts calling themselves “The Friends of Shiv Committee.”

The dinner gets underway on the eve of the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo cricket tournament, on Friday, August 15th, 2008, at the elegant Chateau Royale, located at 111th Street and Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill. Several Guyanese from as far as London, and Canada are expected to be in attendance at the dinner, and the match the following day. Tickets for the dinner are already on sale. (See below).

With the addition of Essequibo to the rivalry last year, interest in the tournament has attracted much attention, and already the tournament is taking on a tremendous buzz, with several players already mapping out strategies for toppling Berbice (2007 Champions) from the championship dais.

The teams have already released preliminary lists of players who will represent the three counties. Defending champions Berbice will most likely be led by veteran USA captain Zamin Amin, with honored guest Sew Shivnarain as the squad’s manager. That squad is expected to field an XI that may include star players such as Sudesh Dhaniram, Ryan Ramdas, Andrew Gonsalves, Vishal Nagamootoo, Bhim George and Deryck Kallicharran. Current USA captain Steve Massiah is expected to lead the Demerara squad that may include current Guyana and Standford Twenty20 player Lennox Cush, Neil McGarrell and Reon King.

Essequibo should not be taken lightly, because in their debut appearance last year gave a very good account of themselves, before falling apart in some critical areas. That squad will most likely be led by Steve Mangru in the role of manager/player, and will include the fiery Telston Johnson, rising youth stars Gregory Sewdial and Azrudeen Mohamed, Tamesh “Cambio” Balwant and the in-form Shiv Ragubar.

The teams are expected to be selected from among the following squads.

Berbice: Zamin Amin, Amirnauth Ramcharitar, Khaleem Bux, Sudesh Dhaniram, Ryan Ramdas, Karran Ganesh, Marlon Kallicharran, Deryck Kallicharran, Vishal Nagamootoo, Bhim George, Kevin Darlington, Andrew Gonsalves, Hemnarine Harinarine, and Kawall Prashad. The Manager is Sew Shivnarain.

Demerara: Steve Massiah, Lennox Cush, Qayaam Farrouq, Neil McGarrell, Reon King
Joey Sadloo, Zaheer Sadloo, Kumar Nandalall, Saheer Safee, Derick McDonald, Imran Ally
Sayeed Mohamed, and Debo Sankar. The Manager/Coach is James Manbahal.

Essequibo: Tamesh Balwant, Telston Johnson, Prashad Mahadeo, Gregory Sewdial, Shiv Ragubar, Travis Rodney, Mark Gomes, Troy Harper, Azrudeen Mohamed, R. Khan, Wesley Isaacs, Travis Rodney, and Theron Blair. The Coach is Steve Mangru.

The Sew Shivnarain Benefit Dinner includes cocktails, dinner and dancing, with a minimum suggested donation of $50 per person. Tickets can be purchased from Motie @ Golden Arrow Sports Bar (718) 809-4087, Krish Prasad (516) 241-1138, Insaf “Birdman” Ali @ 2A’s Mechanical (347) 234-3556, John Aaron (917) 861-9110 or Rudy Persaud (916) 682-6142.
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