By Marlon Munroe
A few of Guyana’s most talented cricketers who have been overlooked by the national selectors have revealed to Stabroek Sport their desire and their recipe for regaining their places on the national team for the new year.
Former West Indies youth captains Steven Jacobs and Leon Johnson, former national all-rounder Christopher Barnwell and opener Shemroy Barrington, all lost their places on the Guyana team for next year’s four-day regional first class season.
The four players consented to interviews by this newspaper to outline their plans for success in the upcoming year and from all indications they will be doing all they can to improve their games.
Christopher Barnwell: I think for the year I had an average performance. With the (regional) four-day early in the season, I scored 394 runs with two half centuries and picked up 14 wickets, inclusive of a 5-wicket haul against Jamaica. I did not have such a good performance in the One-Day series where I only managed to pick up three wickets. I also got a few half centuries at the Inter-County and at the club levels.
MM: Can you honestly say that your performance through this year merited your selection into this team?
CB: It was a 50-50 chance. I feel comfortable opening the batting rather than shifting in the order; I get better scores opening the batting. On the other hand I always get worried when I do not carry on after getting starts.
But I am working on concentrating after getting a good start. Most times when I get good starts I tend to relax and give my wicket away. Now, I am trying to tighten up and think throughout my innings and work just as hard through the middle period as I did at the beginning and hopefully carry on to get big scores.
The non-selection to the national team has been a setback and in this practice match (he made 116) I am trying to work my way back, looking to prove a point. I am taking this as a trial for me to make a big score to find favour with the selectors when the four Test players are called back to duty in the One-Day series in Australia next year.
MM: Trevon Griffith, Rajendra Chandrika and Vishal Singh have lifted their games. How do you intend to stay relevant?
CB: Everybody is vying for a spot and therefore I don’t want to get complacent because those youngsters are coming up and their dreams are to go on and play for Guyana and the WI. So I will definitely have to work hard.
Shemroy Barrington: In the new year I will be looking to go to Trinidad and Tobago to play in the professional league.
Well this is the first time for me going over to T&T and playing in the first division league and I will be looking to gain more confidence. I will be more positive with my cricket and work on my goals.
Every cricketer goes through a bad patch but you have to be mentally strong and fight it out, battle it out and at the end of the day you will be successful.
Leon Johnson: I will be looking to start on a clean slate. I know that I have not been scoring the amount of runs that I wanted to at the Club or Inter-County level. I was hoping to go to T&T in the new year especially since I have been working on my game during the off season.
I am also working on the mental and physical aspects of my game. I was disappointed when I was not selected to the Guyana squad but it is more disappointing that I have not been making any runs at all levels for a long time. I will fight myself out of this bad patch.
I played professional cricket in England and T&T for the past two years and it definitely makes you a better cricketer because most of the times you have to be accountable but I am not saying that we don’t take any responsibility when we are playing at home. The pressure is always on you to do well.
MM: On doubting one’s ability.
LJ: That has never happened to me because anybody can get you out so you need to be mentally focused and support yourself and abilities. I have been here before but there was a time just after I played for Guyana at age 16 that I did not get that much runs and that was the first time I started to doubt myself. However, I consulted senior cricketers and they reassured me that every sportsman goes through that period in their career.
Steven Jacobs: I will be looking to be more focused on my game. For now I am taking a break away from the game to regain my focus to get back my shot at selection. I have been training hard and next year I will be going to T&T to make some runs. So, hopefully, we will be coming back hard and fighting for our positions again.
I would not call it a bad patch because Shemroy, ‘Johnno’ and I have been getting starts but we need to be a bit more focused and concentrate throughout our innings. When you lose your focus you slip and that one shot will cause your downfall.
I don’t think it is too much of a bad patch. We have the ability and talent but we need to focus. I still have the confidence in myself and the others and we will come back from this dilemma that we are going through.
I think playing professional cricket will help. You will have to take responsibility for yourself and team and I think that will, in all, round me off as a good cricketer. When I return I will be more mature because of being a professional; I would also like to be more consistent and make the best of my opportunities. When you make the Guyana team you basically get an opportunity and I will cash in when I get that next opportunity.
When you don’t have confidence you start to doubt yourself. There is always a voice pulling you down but it always takes a strong man to believe in himself and say that yes I can. I always try to be confident in everything I do but I must say that I doubted my abilities sometimes but I am a strong person.
