` I am not one for fancy language’

By Marlon Monroe
With cricket at all levels in Guyana at an all- time low, newly-elected president of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Roger Harper believes that at the Georgetown level, the physical and mental skills of players have to be honed if there is going to be an elevation of cricketing standards.

Harper, who played 25 Test matches and 105 ODIs for the West Indies, in an interview with Stabroek Sport, revealed that the new executive of the GCA intends to have coaching clinics to assist its cricketers with the mental aspects of their games.

“What I want to see is the whole standard of cricket in Georgetown elevated and by that I mean the skill of the players both mentally and technically,” Harper stated.

He acknowledged that the standard of cricket in Guyana needs to be elevated and Georgetown, by extension, is no exception.

Harper indicated that while Georgetown has a fairly good club structure, he reiterated that the skill level and competitive nature of the players seem to be the problematic areas.

Further, Harper indirectly referred to the mediocre standards that players have set themselves when asked what he noticed lacking from the repertoire of the players.

“Players don’t produce big scores on a consistent basis. People (players) seem to think that forties are good scores. We do not see as many triple figure scores as we should be seeing at this level and I think at times the quality of bowling leaves a lot to be desired and basic fielding is something a lot of teams are not thorough with,” the former Kenya coach pointed out.

The 6’ 5” former off-spinner did point out, however, that while he will be looking to provide leadership for the GCA, when opportunities arise in the future he will be “lending technical support” in whatever way he can.

On the other hand, when Stabroek Sport enquired about what a wary public can expect from his tenure especially since it has witnessed time and again the same rhetoric of past executives, he said that “certainly I am not one for fancy language.” He said that judging from the outcome of the first executive meeting on Wednesday night the GCA was committed and that it would be setting itself realistic goals that they could achieve.

“I see this executive as a team and that is the way I operate. We each have our strengths and we will be strongest as a team working in the same direction. We will be utilizing each person’s strength to the fullest extent to get the maximum from this executive,” the 46-year-old elaborated.

He stressed that every person has to fulfill his role at each specific opportunity.

The GCA and the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) have had quite a volatile relationship with both bodies accusing the other of self-serving practices. This ultimately caused some division between the two bodies to the point that there were talks of Georgetown playing as a separate entity from Demerara.

When Stabroek Sport asked Harper whether he will be aiming to patch relations, he quipped that his focus is to take the GCA forward. He said as president of the GCA he will have a role to play in the DCB and anything he can do to aid the advancement of cricket in Guyana he will do.
Guyana’s performance
Guyana currently are on seven points from four completed rounds of cricket in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regional four-day tournament. Many have expressed their cynicism over Guyana’s overall performance and Harper shared those sentiments.

He said that Guyana’s performance was extremely disappointing, particularly since he knows that there are players who are capable of producing more solid performances. He said that the team is much better than the performance suggests but it is “just not producing.”

“I think we really need to sit down and find out why this happening because looking at last season we had a similar sort of performance and to this point the performance has been simply disappointing this year. We have to look at some long-term developmental programme as well as other programmes, so that when one tournament finishes we don’t wait prior to another tournament to start preparing again.”

Harper, who is also a Level Three coach, indicated that they (the GCB technical team) have to conduct remedial work with specific players. He said that while there is not a lack of talent the batsmen are not producing the numbers consistently while observing that  no batsman has stepped up to emulate Narsingh Deonarine’s feat of scoring 1,068 runs in last year’s tournament.

In the bowling department, he said that it is not only a technical process but mastering the art has to do with one’s attitude and approach. He said often times than not the young bowlers need guidance.