By Clifton Ross
As the Guyana National Cricket team undergoes final preparations for this weekend’s match against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) they will be without Christopher Barnwell who will be heading to India for his debut stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) which kicks off on April 3rd.
The 26-year old Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) all-rounder will be boarding a flight today heading to India where he will be representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore as one of their overseas players. Barnwell had an excellent run in the Regional T20 tournament this year and was rewarded with an IPL contract. He was snapped up for US50, 000 by the Indian franchise.
Stabroek Sports caught up with the all-rounder yesterday at his club DCC as he shared his thoughts on his IPL selection, Guyana’s performances and his expectations for the remainder of the regional four-day and Super50 tournaments. When asked about his team’s opening performances and what he expects from it for the remainder of the competition, Barnwell said “we got off to a bad start our batting let us down, our conversion needed to be consistent, some of the guys got good starts but didn’t capitalize in turning them into big ones”.
He went on to mention that the bowling and fielding was good but” we need to work hard in our line and length putting the ball in good areas while working on our catching along with our ground fielding which has been good but improvement is still needed in those departments”.
Barnwell also said “he wishes the boys all the best in their games and said he knows they are excited about playing at home in front of friends and family”.
He added that it’s a big boost of confidence that will allow them to showcase their talents and hard work since returning home. He said the guys will be ‘going for the kill’ in their remaining games.
Speaking on his IPL selection Barnwell expressed his joy saying ”I’m very excited and grateful for my opportunity to go to India and showcase my talents while rubbing shoulders with cricket’s finest players and coaches”.
He added “playing with these guys is a wonderful opportunity for any young player to learn and improve”.
When asked about benefits from playing in the IPL, Barnwell stated “I wanted to play IPL for a long time and God has blessed me with an opportunity to do so and I’m going to relish sharing the dressing room with the likes of AB de Villiers, (Tillakaratne) Dilshan, (Virat) Kohli and most of all Chris Gayle.”
He further noted “I’m looking forward to playing with Chris Gayle, he is one of my idols along with Dwayne Bravo, I was blessed to play with Dwayne when I was called up for the T20 against Zimbabwe recently and I hope to get the opportunity to bat with Chris and even carry home a game for my franchise with him”.
When asked about his future after IPL he said “I will be taking my experience and learning from India sharing it with others, my main objective is training hard and chalking up runs in the domestic and regional circuits”. He also said “I will continue to work hard and improve on my consistency because my goals are to be selected for West Indies’ One-Day team for the upcoming Champions Trophy held in England and hopefully if I get that opportunity I will hold on to it staking my contentions for a long term role in the team”.
“I will also take a break after the IPL ends, then back to training to focus on the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which starts in August and said “I would to play on the same team as Chris (Gayle) or Dwayne (Bravo) but most importantly for my country”.
Barnwell said his goals are “to simply work hard at my game and put out a good show in India taking wickets and making big scores” while making his friends, family, teammates and his club proud of his performances.
