By John Aaron
2012 Guyana Tri-County Games Honorees
ESSEQUIBO
Chandar Persaud
Born in Greenwich Park on the east bank of the Essequibo River, Chandar Persaud played cricket for as long as he can remember growing up as a young boy. His love of the sport would take him to many places in Guyana, meeting some of the cricketing stalwarts of the day as well as some of his peers whom he remembers very fondly, and vividly recalls them by name and match played.
Chandar Persaud
The opening batsman says that many people, including Guyanese don’t know that the East Bank of Essequibo is connected to West Demerara and stretches from Vreed-en-Hoop to Boerrsrie; however, it is his love of cricket that he cherishes more than anything, apart from his wife and two teenage children. The 52 year-old Chandar remembers scoring his first first-class century in a Bristol Cup match played against Bartica, where he represented East Bank Essequibo. He also played in the Northcote Cup and the then Bata Cup, representing West Demerara for three years and an equal amount of time participating in the Inter-County tournaments in Guyana, making his inter-county debut in 1985.
Chandar, now a real estate agent in Queens, NY, migrated to the USA in 1989, having played his last cricket match in Guyana representing Uitvlugt against the East Coast in a Hand-in-Hand final. In the USA he played in the Commonwealth Cricket League for Kent Cricket Club, and alongside the Etwaroo brothers. He also played for the President’s XI in the Eastern American Cricket League.
BERBICE
Milton Robert Pydanna
Py, as he is known to many, represented Guyana for seventeen years as a first-class middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper. Born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Milton Pydanna successfully captained that County’s XI in domestic first-class matches for six years. He has also represented the West Indies in three ODI matches. Unfortunately, the West Indies had the services of two other excellent wicketkeepers at the time in David Murray in 1981 in Pakistan, and in 83-84 Jeffery Dujon in India.
Milton Pydana
The right-hand bat is well-known throughout the Caribbean and the cricketing community in the USA. With a sharp eye and hand coordination behind the sticks, Pydanna is now part of a very successful youth team – New York Youth Cricket Club, as a coach, where he no doubt brings a wealth of cricketing experience having played under the captaincy of the legendary Clive Lloyd and alongside such greats as Sir Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Colin Croft, Michael Holding and Alvin Kallicharran, and against the greats Javed Miandad, Sadiq Mohammad and Imran Khan of Pakistan, in a 40-overs match in 1980 against Pakistan in Karachi.
After migrating to the USA in 1989, Milton Pydanna continued playing the sport he knows best and alongside many former Guyana and Berbician cricketers, such as Deryck Kallicharran, Amarnauth Ramcharitar, and Sew Shivnarain, in the New York Guinness/Red Stripe tournaments. He played for Diplomats Cricket Club in the Bronx and Roraima and Guyana Sports Clubs in Brooklyn.
As coach with the New York Region, Pydanna coached the New York region to winning its first T20 tournament in California. He has also coached Team Guyana for five years in the Ed Ahmad NY Caribbean Cricket Cup. In 2010 Py coached the USA Under-15 squad in an ICC Americas tournament in Canada.
DEMERARA
Winston Alfred English
If it’s the English who are credited with inventing the sport of cricket, a more apt name could not have been bestowed upon one of the classiest fast bowlers Guyana has ever produced. Winston English was born in Georgetown, Guyana and represented the County of Demerara, and later Guyana in the Caribbean Shell Shield tournaments, playing under the captaincy of Lance Gibbs and alongside notable Guyana cricket stars such as Rohan Kanhai, Roy Fredericks, Basil Butcher, Alvin Kallicharran, and others.
Winston English
One of Winston English’s most memorable matches was against Barbados in the 1966-67 Shell Shield where he had match figures of 39.4-9-111-4 against a Barbados XI that included the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Seymour Nurse, David Holford, Peter Lashley and Gordon Greenidge. In that match English would clean bowl Sobers who made 165, David Holford, 80, and Seymour Nurse, for a duck. The match ended drawn, as Guyana made 641 for 5 declared and 244 for 5, and Barbados replied with 552 all out in their first innings.
While in Guyana, Winston English also represented the Guyana Police Force in first-class cricket. A very tidy and economical left-arm fast bowler, English was no slouch with the willow scoring several 50s while batting right-hand for Guyana at the lower end of a very richly talented upper batting order.
After migrating to the USA in the early 70s, Winston English joined fellow Guyana Police Force fast bowler Keith Cameron and Carlyle Miller on the Atlantis Cricket Club squad, and on several occasions spearheaded a very formidable bowling attack that catapulted Atlantis on to win several championships in the then Long Island Cricket League.