IN-FORM West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan will miss Guyana’s final round Carib Beer Series match today against the Windward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.

The match which should have started yesterday was pushed back because of the non-arrival of the Windwards Islands’ gear.

Sarwan, told to rest by the West Indies team physio, is the leading run-scorer in the Carib Beer series, having already scored two centuries in the competition including 150 against the Leeward Islands in St Thomas in his last match.

He also stroked two half-centuries in the opening Test which the West Indies lost on Wednesday in Guyana.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who struggled for runs in the first Test, has been included in the Guyana side which will be led by middle order batsman Travis Dowlin.

The 31-year-old Dowlin, who made his first-class debut against the Windward Islands in 1997 in Grenada, makes his debut as skipper of the senior team although the DCC batsman led a Guyana ‘B’ team against the touring Indians in 2002.

West Indies One-Day International opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, who missed making his Test debut last week due to a viral infection, will open the batting with Krishna Arjune who was not picked for Guyana’s first three ‘away’ matches.

Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul returns to the side after missing the last two rounds due to a finger injury sustained at the youth World Cup in Malaysia.

Leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo, who made an auspicious start to his first-class career with a seven-wicket haul against the Combined Campuses and Colleges in the fifth round, is also back after missing the last match in St Thomas because he could not obtain a United States Visa to travel to the U.S. territory.

Guyana took first innings points in a drawn game against the CCC and defeated the Leeward Islands outright in their last two games but have no chance of qualifying for the Challenge Final after losing to Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica on the road.

They have 18 points, just two more than their opponents who have also had a rough time in the tournament.

The Windwards have lost four matches and won just one, a big 10-wicket win over Combined Campuses and Colleges in the fourth round.

The Rawle Lewis-led side will want to end the tournament on a high note especially after the catastrophe suffered in the last round against Jamaica when they capitulated to a 10-wicket loss.

Then, the batting flopped dramatically managing paltry scores of 61 and 187. Officials will be hoping for an improvement in this department and will be looking to Test opener Devon Smith and Andre Fletcher, who shone with an unbeaten century in the second innings against Jamaica, to get among the runs.

Squads:
Guyana – Travis Dowlin (captain), Sewnarine Chattergoon, Krishna Arjune, Leon Johnson, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Derwin Christian, Zaheer Mohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo, Trevon Garraway, Esaun Crandon, Gajanand Singh, Assad Fudadin.

Windwards – Rawle Lewis (captain), Devon Smith, Miles Bascombe, Andre Fletcher, Donwell Hector, Liam Sebastien, Darren Sammy, Lyndon James, Shane Shillingford, Mervin Matthew, Nelon Pascal, Roy Casimir, Salvan Brown. (CMC)