-criticises dropping of experienced players
Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan has pinpointed inconsistency among reasons for the national team crashing out of another West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) 50-over tournament in the preliminary rounds and he also lamented the dropping of experienced players
Sarwan, who has his own battles with the WICB at the moment, and manager Carl Moore related to Stabroek Sport yesterday that the team’s all-round performance in Jamaica was “disappointing” and the batting “poor”. Both men also believe that better results will come with the right application from players.
Efforts to contact Coach Rabindranauth Seeram yesterday were futile.
The Guyana team, after suffering elimination in the first round of the Airtel Champions League 20/20 championships in South Africa last month, secured a narrow three-run win and suffered two successive losses.
The team’s win came against the young recruits of the WICB’s academy, Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC), while the losses came against Barbados and the Leeward Islands.
“The result was very disappointing this year especially after we finished as runner-up last year. We were hoping to go a step forward this year. The batting was poor and I feel that the team depended too much on myself, Shiv [Chanderpaul] and Narsingh [Deonarine].
“The team must understand that we will not always make runs and therefore they have to step up and do it quickly. All in all there were some decent individual performances from [Steven] Jacobs, [Devendra] Bishoo and [Royston] Crandon and there will be improvements and I still have confidence in the players but they have to develop quickly,” Sarwan declared.
Consistency, according to Sarwan, was another serious concern for him and this was most glaring in the match against the Leeward Islands where Guyana lost too many wickets before the rains came. When the Duckworth/Lewis system was applied Guyana was behind the required number of runs per wicket and there the team’s campaign ended.
“Although there were mixed performances it was not on a consistent basis, it was lacking,” Sarwan stated bluntly.
On the other hand, Sarwan also felt that the absence of the experienced duo of Travis Dowlin and Sewnarine Chattergoon had its own disadvantages. Sarwan also pointed out that while the two batsmen have seen a slump in their form, both should not have been discarded at the same time.
He also referred to the sacking of two of Guyana’s most successful contemporary spinners, Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil Mc Garrel.
“The team need that experience to blend with the younger players, especially at the top. The discarding of the two was not the best thing because you don’t want a recurrence of Nagamootoo and Mc Garrell who were dropped at the same time; you can’t compromise youth and experience,” Sarwan posited.
The 29-year-old said that he will be meeting with officials of the selection panel and there will be some recommendations made concerning those players and what can be done for the younger, less experienced players.
Meanwhile, Moore said he was disappointed that the team did not make it into the semis but he was adamant that the experience the younger players acquired on the tour will serve Guyana’s cricket well and boost their own development in the future. He believes that the younger players are still finding their way and they will get better with time.
He added though that the flooring of many catches, along with poor batting also resulted in Guyana leaving the tournament in the preliminary rounds. He estimated that the batsmen lacked the application and their susceptibility to pace bowling was glaring.
He noted that recruit Richard Ramdeen and Sarwan coped well. He also heaped praise on spinners Bishoo, Jacobs, Crandon and Deonarine who helped to stem the flow of runs when Barbados and the Leewards seemed poised to make a huge total. West Indies Under-19 pacer Keon Joseph, who made his regional senior debut in the tournament, also came in for some praise but he stated that the young players would have to continue working on their game.