After a somewhat predictable and easy 234-run opening round victory over the Leeward Islands – the Guyanese moved to the more stringent task of engaging the regional heavyweights.
Usually when one speaks of “regional heavyweights” historically Guyana is always mentioned along with Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.
But with Guyana’s decline in recent years and the rise of the Windwards Islands under Darren Sammy, the Guyanese needed to lift their game.
This unfortunately didn’t happen as the Islanders triumphed by five-wickets to reinforce the belief that of late, the Guyanese have become the “Windwards whipping boys” given the recent successes against the local side in all three formats in big games.
Stabroek Sport contacted Guyana Coach Esuan Crandon yesterday as he and his troops landed in St. Kitts ahead of their third-round clash versus Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and he reflected on Guyana’s latest performance.
Asked where he felt Guyana went wrong in their second round clash.
Crandon reasoned that basically the Veerasammy Permaul-led side didn’t play to its potential.
“It’s a fact we didn’t play to the best of our ability, the batting let us down in the first innings. A total of 138 (first innings) was always going to put us under pressure, providing how well the opposition responded with the bat, which they did. We missed a few chances in the field that cost us an extra 60 runs when Pascal (Nelon) and Johnson (Delorn) were batting and they took control. With a deficit of 114 obviously our batting had to improve – we got to 294 which proved not to be enough, though we were about 75 runs short,” explained Crandon
Crandon highlighted the positives he saw in the game and sought to put the negative aspects behind him and the team.
“There are a lot of positives we can take from Windwards game. Looking at the way the guys played in the second innings was really satisfying. To see fight, application, discipline and positive cricket.
The partnership between Deonarine (Narsingh) and Fudadin (Assad) was over 100. Barnwell was involved in two decent partnerships with Christian (Derwin) and Crandon (Royston).
“They batted very well, but I’m bit disappointed none of them carried on for the ton. If one of the three had scored heavily that would have put us in a better position to apply pressure on them the last day. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives – we have put that behind us and are moving forward with the positives,” stated Crandon.
Of late many local cricket pundits have been suggesting that the Guyana team is developing a serious mental blockage against the Windward Islands, who have beaten them a lot in recent years in big games. When asked if he agrees with this assessment – coach Crandon did not feel this was the case.
“I disagree with comments that the Guyana team has developed a mental blockage against the Windward Islands. It’s evident these guys (the Windwards) just wanted it more than us. They played better and deserved to win over the course of the match,” said Crandon.
Finally, he was asked whether at this early stage he felt the team is being affected by not being able to utilize their home advantage by playing these current games at Providence Stadium, and he reckoned it has been a potential opportunity that was missed.
“It would have been an opportunity for our guys to play our first four games at home. I don’t think we have had such opportunity for a long time if I can recall. The boys would have loved to utilize home advantages plus the support of our family and fans. Playing our home games away from home is disappointing to us and I’m sure the Guyanese public as well. It isn’t a major concern at the moment for us – we are here to play cricket that’s what we’re going to do. Guys were aware of the situation before the start of the tournament,” Crandon said.
Guyana will lock horns with the CCC in their third round four-day clash from February 16-19.
