by LOUIS HOLDER

In Guyana

AFTER SUNDAY'S REST DAY, and a day off yesterday because of local general elections, cricket fans will finally get to see the much anticipated final of the TCL (Trinidad Cement Limited) regional Under-19 cricket competition, between Barbados and Guyana.

The match bowls off at Bourda from today, and the hometown Guyana team may have a psychological advantage in this match-up.

That's because in the final preliminary match of the round-robin competition, Guyana, the league champs, got the better of the Barbados squad in a rain-ruined match.

About 480 minutes of play were lost due to bad weather, but the Guyanese still earned first innings honours.

Still, the Bajans remain upbeat. "Perhaps it was just an off-day for our batting," captain Shamarh Brooks told NATIONSPORT. "We had not been getting much cricket in, and our batsmen could have been a bit rusty, but we know what's required, and we think it will be a different ball-game this time around."

Perhaps, the defensive minded approach by the usally positive thinking Barbadians was the reason for their below-par performance.

"Our batsmen appeared a bit too defensive on that occasion," manager Livy Coppin said. "I know they are much better than that, and I'm sure that performance was just a small setback."

Before their final match, the Barbadians had been dominant in all their matches, apart from against the Leeward Islands, in which only 5.2 overs were possible.

The squad had an extended practise session on Sunday at the Police Complex in Georgetown, after which coach Dexter Toppin appeared quite satisfied. "We had an excellent workout, and all the guys are in high spirits. We've tried to work out what went wrong in our last match as far as the batting was concerned, and truthfully, I know they can turn the tables and bring home the bacon."

The Guyana squad did not practise yesterday, having been given time to exercise their constitutional right to vote in the general election.

Teams:

Barbados (from): Shamarh Brooks, Roger Williams, Jed Yearwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Kyle Hope, Reydon Toppin, Shamarh Cooke, Renaldo Holder, Renaldo Arthur, Kemar Roach, Dawayne Sealy, Kevin McClean and Adrian Maynard.

Guyana (from): Yajarnard Singh, Richard Ramdeen, Mohindra Boodram, Rajendra Chandrika, Shenroy Barrington, Krisna Deosaran, Troy Gonsalves, Danny Narayan, David Wallace, Veersrammy Persaud, Maxwell Georgeson, Brandon Bess and Ryan Hercules.