West Indies and Guyana middle order batsman Shivanrine Chanderpaul believes that young cricketers in Guyana need a lot of help if they are going to mature into better cricketers.
He also believes that the initiative of national coach Rabindranauth Seeram and High Performance Analyst (HPA) Robin Singh is a good one to have the more senior cricketers in the country exposed to an elite training programme, which is currently being held at the Guyana National Stadium.
Chanderpaul, who is also involved with the programme, told Stabroek Sport that the programme gives young cricketers an opportunity to work on their faults long before the commencement of a tournament.
Singh and Seeram have also noted that preparing the cricketers on a tournament to tournament basis has contributed in some way to the poor performance of the national cricket team for the past few years.
“If you notice there are a lot of youngsters here and we are trying to help them improve their cricketing skills. Robin and Seeram are also ensuring that they work on whatever area that they have to; we also want them to improve on their shot range,” Chanderpaul explained.
Meanwhile, when Seeram was asked how the players who are currently overseas playing their cricket will fit into the scheme of things he pointed out that there is a realization that the standard of Guyana’s cricket is low and therefore things have to be done to elevate it.
“We hope that this programme will get the guys in the right momentum to deliver the right goods. We need our first class players to get up there and perform. Further, if our national players can score a century every week then we can say that something is going right,” Seeram said.
The former national middle order batsman also pointed out that if the country’s seasoned batsmen and bowlers are struggling to make runs and take five wickets then there is cause for grave concern.
To a large extent, he observed, the players are going to Trinidad & Tobago because they are not being paid but he said if the board sees it fit to improve the structure and have the players stay at home then improvement will come.
“Between me and Robin on tour we sat down and we realize that nobody is doing anything for Guyana cricket and we feel that this can be a first step to helping a situation,” Seeram noted.
The first phase of the elite programme will run up to the ICC World Cup T20 tournament that begins on April 30 and is scheduled to resume when the teams leave the country. Chanderpaul also said that while there is also some focus on T20 cricket they want players to remember the fundamentals of the game and exhibit it during the game’s shortest version.
