– Guyana lost because of poor batting – Coach Bailey
Guyana under-17 cricket Coach Orin Bailey said the team’s poor showing at the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) organized Regional under-17 limited overs competition was due to bad batting.
“Apart from opener Dayanand Roopnarine who give us one good performance, none of the other batsmen whom we expected to score heavily, did so. I think they were a bit timid, as they were not executing their stroke play the way they were executing their stroke play in Guyana prior to our departure,” he said.
Bailey, who replaced former West Indies fast bowler Reon King as the coach of the team said it seemed as though nerves got the better of the players when they touched down in Trinidad and “they just forgot completely how to bat.” Bailey said he believed Guyana has the best all-round team in the tournament “but the only persons who stand up to our expectations were the bowlers. Only one team made a significant amount of runs against us and that was Barbados.” Barbados scored 175 “but no other team was able to get past 150 as our bowling led by West Indies under-15 leg spinner Amir Khan and fast bowler Seon Daniels were a stand out,” Bailey said.
The coach said too the bowlers did extremely well and the batsmen did not compensate for the hard work they put in at times. “The bowlers themselves had to bat and win matches for us. Undo what the batsmen could not do, “Bailey told Stabroek Sport. He said Daniels was the top local bowler in the competition as he failed to concede anything more than 30 runs in any of his spells, even against Barbados. “He lived up to expectations, bowling with a maturity that belied his age. He was accurate and economical, as he failed to concede more than 30 runs in any of his spells,” the coach said. Daniels was named most valuable player in the team.
“Apart from Devers (Ricardo) who was the only bowler to concede more than 40 runs, no other bowler conceded that amount of runs. Khan, Joemal La Fleur and Trinson Carmichael also bowled well, even though the latter did not have any practice sessions with us” Bailey said.
He also told this newspaper that the team did not have batting practice, except for the lone session at the Sir Frank Worrell indoor facility. Though that does not excuse the below par performance of the batsmen he said the lack of practice may have been the hiccup for Carmichael.
The coach also said the entire team contributed though he remains convinced that if the batsmen had ‘stuck it out’ Guyana would have emerged victorious. Despite winning three out of five match, Guyana ended the inaugural tournament in fourth place.
