Despite a hard-fought win over English county side Somerset in their second round Caribbean Twenty20 match, National Cricket Coach Rabindranauth Seeram says Guyana’s batsmen need to start giving their bowlers a decent target to defend.
Seeram said the team will be taking the energy from Wednesday’s nail-biting one-run victory into today’s match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC).
While noting that the side could have added about 30 more runs to the total, he pointed out that due to the pressure that was applied the Englishmen “buckled.” He explained that he remained optimistic that the Guyanese would have prevailed, despite Somerset’s strong position.
The English side, here at the behest of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), was cruising at 105-4 chasing 113 for victory before dramatically losing six wickets for seven runs to end on 111 all out. As a result, Guyana’s title defence hopes are still alive.
However, many questions were raised by commentators as to Guyana’s readiness to adapt to the conditions of the pitch, the team’s strategies and the top order’s recent chronic collapses.
After the side’s loss to Jamaica by 50 runs on Monday evening, Seeram said that the players did not execute the team’s game plan and this resulted in the heavy loss and another low score.
Seeram said the bowling in the two games has been disciplined but the batsmen have not been putting on meaningful partnerships, and particularly the top order. He disclosed that the post-match team meetings focused on the batting line-up and the low scores. Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and Royston Crandon were the only batsmen to reach double figures, with 59 and 10, respectively.
The team’s management, Seeram said, will be making changes for today’s fixture. He did not disclose what those might be but it is possible that Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be playing at the top of the order, to ensure his effectiveness. Commenting on young Richard Ramdeen, Seeram said he believed that he had a problem adapting to the bounce of the wicket and it would not be advisable to thrust him into such a pressure situation. The team changes will be known today.
Meanwhile, former West Indies player and coach Roger Harper told Stabroek Sport that the side’s major focus today should be on getting a total in the region of 140, since the pitch does not allow for free scoring. From a technical standpoint, Harper believes that the batsmen have to bat longer and be more vigilant, especially at the start of the innings.
Harper noted that the side is losing too many early wickets, therefore putting too much pressure on the lower order. According to him, the bowling cannot be faulted and since two different line ups were used with similar outcomes, then there have to better starts from the batsmen.
