West Indies most successful captain Clive Hubert Lloyd has urged batsmen in the national cricket team to put a premium on their wickets and implored bowlers to be patient.
He was in the role of an inspirational speaker at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground yesterday. The occasion was the departure of the Demerara players in the national side for Berbice where they will be united with the rest of the squad for Guyana’s fifth round encounter with Barbados in the WICB regional four-day tournament at the Albion Community Centre ground from February 12-15.
The 16-man squad will commence training today and will be encamped at the Church View Hotel in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
Guyana, currently at the bottom on seven points, has had the misfortune of losing two of their three matches (against Jamaica and the Combined Campuses and Colleges) and drawing the third against Trinidad & Tobago.
The Coach Rabindranauth Seeram and Captain Sewnarine Chattergoon, in their estimation, claimed that their batting, bowling and fielding were problematic areas at crucial points in their games.
It was against this background that the legendary left hander, who scored 7,515 runs from 110 Test matches, told the national cricketers that it was established that they were the best players but they must show their merit in an intelligent manner. Further, he charged the batsmen to bat long and put a high price on their wicket.
“As a batsman your wicket must be hard to get, especially if you are set because you would have set a premium. You must be able to work the ball around and if you should go aerial it must be in a position where no fielder is. If you would have batted and reached 40 then the onus is on you to convert that score to triple figures,” Lloyd explained.
He believes that only an outstanding delivery should dismiss a set batsman and not the batsman playing an injudicious shot. On the other hand, he said that he does not believe in the phrase “nervous nineties” since he contends that batsmen would have done all the hard work to get there so they should only concentrate and continue being sensible to get that milestone.
“The nervous nineties is crap,” Lloyd quipped.
Lloyd, who led the West Indies to the first two ICC World Cup titles, told the players that they must be able to think at all times, especially at the most critical periods. He rolled back the years to his heyday when they strategized for opposing players and when one part of their planning went awry players would turn to Antiguan Andy Roberts, who had a good memory.
The former Chatham High School student noted that every team must have “balance”. He said when he played the game and players had specific strengths they had to work on their weaknesses so as to always maintain the right winning formula.
He said that while his role was not to chastise players, he warned them that this is the best time to always be consistent and “continually knocking at the door of the West Indies.”
The 6’ 4” former medium pacer who has 31,232 runs and 114 wickets at the first class level told the group of eight, inclusive of the coach, that they have to be consistent and always perform well so that their record will be their bargaining chip, especially since the players are in their twenties.
On addressing the bowlers Lloyd referred to New Zealand’s Sir Richard John Hadlee, who took 431 wickets from 86 Test matches, when he said “he does not mind giving away 40 or 50 runs because at the end of the day he will have the wicket.”
He asked that the local bowlers think and he referred to a practice of Australian pacer Dennis Keith Lillee, who took 355 wickets (70 Test matches) at a miserly 23.92, that always ensured where his fielders were before he took his run up.
The former Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) player said that bowlers must always work with a plan in mind. He made reference to Guyana’s fiery pacer Brandon Bess who seems to be maturing as he plies his trade. He indicated that while you can learn many things before you play a match you have to learn and adapt even quicker when you are actually playing the game.
Diet
Diet and nutrition plays a major role in any sportsman’s life and Lloyd said that it is imperative that sportsmen follow this stringently. He feels that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) should take a leading stance to ensure that there is a plan that players adhere to.
He opines that this, along with fitness, can be the difference in whether a player can last an entire series and not break down midway through it. He said that while cricketers will imbibe alcohol and other foods that may not necessarily suit their purpose, it is not advisable that they overdo.
