USA Guyana Whitewashed But Not Disgraced

By Orin Davidson
If you were expecting the USA Guyana team to have at least notch one win in the three matches against the national Guyana team, it would’ve being a case of ultra optimisticism.

Despite the presence of two experienced campaigners at that level of competition - Neil McGarrell and Lennox Cush, the one week tour which was expected to provide exposure to the young players, saw USA Guyana comfortably lose all three games.

And as the tour organizers have been saying all along, it was an exercise to strengthen ties with the cricket fraternity in the homeland.

But they were coming up against the team with the best limited overs record in the West Indies, competing in conditions those players have been playing all their careers.

The fact that the team played better as the tour went on, was a positive aspect of USA Guyana’s performance.

The situation was not helped by the unavailability of several seasoned players who helped the team sweep both the Ahmad Caribbean Cup 50 overs and Twenty/20 titles this year, could not make the tour.

The selection of 16-year-old Gregory Sewdial was a commendable one, but as the series developed, you must conclude that Akeem Dodson and Alec Kirton, two of the most dynamic players from the said New York Under-19 team that the former is part of, would’ve been a fillip to the squad’s performance and their personal careers.

Stand-in coach and physical trainer Victor Benjamin correctly stated that Dodson and Kirton, who despite not playing the Ahmad Caribbean Cup would’ve been ideal replacements for ones unavailable. He also mentioned Clain Williams, another young batsman who was involved in a few games but was not selected, who could’ve been a boost.

Nevertheless the reality is that USA Guyana needs more of the exposure they had at the GCC ground, Providence Stadium and Albion, to raise their standard for players the caliber of captain Steve Massiah to develop the confidence to dominate attacks the way he does in New York.

In the opening clash last Friday, Guyana batted first and rattled up 243 runs for six wickets to which USA Guyana could only manage 148 all out in 35.2 overs in reply.

Lennox Cush top scored for USA Guyana with 36 while former under-19 player Karran Ganesh made 32. Star batsman and captain Steve Massiah fell for a meager seven while this summer’s form player Sudesh Dhaniram failed likewise contributing six.

USA Guyana was undone by a brigade of Guyana spinners with ex- West Indies Under-19 captain Leon Johnson leading the way with two wickets for eight runs with his leg spin. Off spinner Royston Crandon took 2-23, fellow off spinner Zaheer Mohamed 2-28 and veteran leggie Mahendra Nagamootoo 2-31.

Dowlin had earlier laid the foundation for victory with a run-a-ball topscore of 79 which included six fours and three sixes in his team’s unreachable score. He was well supported by Johnson who struck 46 while Krishna Deosarran slammed 27 not out off 20 balls.

Neil McGarrell was USA Guyana’s best bowler capturing 2-54. Telson Johnson took 1-19 off four overs, Cush 1-39 and Reon King 1-48.

The very next day the teams clashed in the feature Twenty/20 showdown at the new Providence Stadium but it hardly lived up to the hype as USA Guyana were beaten by five wickets. Batting first they were no match for the Guyana attack and were reduced them to 104-6 in their 20 overs. All-rounder McGarrell was the topscorer with 22 Cush was bowled for 12 while Massiah got himself run out for nine.

Dowlin then powered Guyana to victory with 48 run out to earn his second Man-of the Match award in two days following his exploits at GCC, as his team coasted to victory with 104-5. Ramesh Narine hit up 34 not out late in the order. King grabbed 2-8 while McGarrell had 2-21

The final game saw USA Guyana producing its best performance against a mainly second string Guyana squad, but it also was not good enough.

In the end the visiting team lost by three wickets after scoring 155 all out in the 40 overs a side encounter. Guyana replied with 156-7.

Cush and Massiah led USA Guyana’s batting with 52 and 37 respectively as off spinner Imran Jaffally off spin proved too much as he took four wickets.

Sewnarine Chattergoon led Guyana’s batting with 60 while Kumar Nandallall took two wickets for the visitors.

For their work, Guyana walked away with G$1 million for winning the Twenty/20 match G$500,000 checks each for triumphing in the two 40 overs encounters, courtesy of New York businessman Ed Ahmad.
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