When the national Under-19 squad goes into its first encampment in preparation for the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)/TCL Regional Under-19 tournament in Jamaica from today, the fitness level of the players will be the main item on the mind of coach Hubern Evans.
“Whilst I must say that the squad given to us to work with is the best the selectors could have come up with, I must say that I am disappointed with the level of fitness displayed by the players during the recently-concluded Inter-county tournament and lone trial match.”
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has organized a weekend camp for the 20-man squad, who will be encamped at the Third Street, Alberttown-based hostel.
“I saw some players signalling to fielders behind them for balls that they could have stopped, if they were fit. Whilst we are not looking for A-one fitness from these guys, there is a level we are looking for from some of them, whilst there are others who at least can go up two levels than where they are right now,” said Evans.
“With this in mind, they will be going under a beep test at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tomorrow morning, so we can know where they are fully, whilst at the same time bring them to the level we would want them to be.”
He continued, “If the weather holds for us, we may do some fielding drills in the afternoon but the main focus for us is their fitness as in such a competition, fitness is the key at all times.”
While identifying the squad as a balanced one, Evans would like to see the batsmen click as that would be needed in Jamaica.
“The batting if they click together can create havoc for any opposition bowling, but if they do that in patches, it would not work out. At the moment, Jonathan Foo has been in good form with the bat and I can only hope that he carries that form with him into the tournament.”
“There is also Seon Hetmyer, Trevon Griffith and Jeetendra Sookdeo whom I am hoping can recover from the back injury in time to compete in the tournament. Apart from those, they are other batsmen in the team who are capable enough to put together good scores, but have not been doing so lately,” said Evans.
“On the other hand, the bowling department is well stocked with five fast bowlers in Keon Joseph who was rated as the fastest bowler in the tournament last year, Keyron Fraser, Rensford Beaton from Essequibo, Seon Daniels and Andre Stoll,” said the 53-year- old Evans.
“Apart from that, I would like to see Totaram Bishun step up and be the match winner for us. He has the experience, ability and potential, but of late has not been producing whilst Foo’s bowling has been coming on leaps and bounds but how much can we ask of him?” asks Evans who played nine first class matches for Guyana, averaging 37.08.
Guyana last won the title in 2007 under the astute captaincy of Steven Jacobs, but lost it last year to host Barbados, finishing as the runner-up under the captaincy of Berbice’s Eugene La Fleur.
The 20-man squad who have been asked to report at the hostel for 17:30hrs today reads: Jonathan Foo, Seon Hetmyer, Jeetendra Sookdeo, Royston Alkins, Anthony Bramble, Dexter Solomon, Rajendra Nikbarran, Seon Daniels, Herrell Greene, Trevon Griffith, Andre Stoll, Sahadeo Somai, Alex Amsterdam, Amir Khan, Totaram Bishun, Ryan Rajmangal, Rensford Beaton, Anthony Adams, Keon Joseph and Keyron Fraser.
