Veteran West Indies left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul and out-of-favour middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan have been included in a 22-man Guyana squad to begin preparation for their defence of next month's Caribbean Twenty20 title. The squad which also includes West Indies players Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Travis Dowlin, Leon Johnson and Royston Crandon, was selected from the recent National Twenty20 competition which climaxed on Friday night with Berbice retaining their title. Guyana won the inaugural CT20 tournament in August when they beat Barbados by one wicket in a thrilling final in T&T. The players will begin encampment from Monday at the Guyana Cricket Board's indoor practice facility.
Chanderpaul, who was unavailable for this year's campaign, is currently with the West Indies side in Sri Lanka and is expected back in the Caribbean this week. Sarwan, who was captain of the victorious side, has been in good form for Demerara in the local T20 competition after being overlooked for West Indies duty. West Indies A players Davendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul and Assad Fudadin have also been included in the squad which will undergo a fitness test on Monday before the final 14-man squad is named. Twenty-year-old Jonathon Foo, who helped Guyana to victory in this year's CT20, have also been included but right-hander Rajendra Chandrika has been excluded.
Guyana SQUAD
Richard Ramdeen, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Travis Dowlin, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine, Steven Jacobs, Jonathon Foo, Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo, Kellon Carmichael, Andre Stoll, Chris Barnwell, Anthony Bramble, Esuan Crandon, Assad Fudadin, Leon Johnson, Steven Latcha, Zaheer Mohamed, Shemroy Barrington, Sewnarine Chattergoon.