Following this weekend’s recommencement of the physical training camp, the Guyana Jaguars final 14-man squad for this month’s NAGICO Regional Super 50 tournament is expected to be named shortly, this is according to Rayon Griffith.
Griffith, the former National pacer and current Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chairman of National Selectors confirmed with Stabroek Sports yesterday that the local side will indeed name their final squad possibly by this weekend as they first engage in what is expected to be a brief but an arduous physical assessment session today at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The Jaguars, who dominated the first leg of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Professional Cricket League (PCL) 4-day tournament which has taken a break in order for the shorter format to be contested, will undergo a series of fitness testing routines which will be conducted under the guidance of Griffith, Head Coach Esaun Crandon and other members of the coaching panel.
Players will undergo the ever-challenging Beep Test followed by numerous cardiovascular exercises which have now become routine for the national cricketers given their recent history of training hard prior to matches and tournaments.
Apart from today’s session the Jaguars will conduct more cricket oriented drills tomorrow at the same venue beginning at 13:00hrs and Griffith hinted that the remainder of the camp, which is expected to go for seven straight days will hone in on the arears such as fielding and batting which he believes has not reached its full potential.
“We want to improve on a lot on our fielding as well as our bating, we want the players to try and score more and also rotate the strike. They were playing a lot of cricket recently which is good for them and that should help them to further understand their role and help with their confidence but we would still have to make adjustments for the shorter format,” he said. He was also confident that the young players in the side and those who might earn possible chances to play will relish the shorter format of the game as he thinks they will be more suited to play freely. “As you look in world cricketer today the younger players like the shorter formats and we have tried to get them accustomed to the longer version but I think they will be happy to play with more freedom in the 50 over because they have the confidence already.”
Guyana will enter this competition with a fairly young side after the services of Ramnaresh Sarwan who was not contracted by the local Cricket Guyana Inc. franchise being absent from the local scene. Test batsman Assad Fudadin who is currently nursing a broken finger and the West Indian trio of Leon Johnson, recently recalled Narsingh Deonarine and veteran Shiv Chanderpaul who will more than likely miss part of the tournament due to the West Indies busy itinerary ahead of the 2015 World Cup. Meanwhile, Griffith further confirmed that Barbadian all-rounder Raymon Reifer will be present for the camp after he returned home for the Christmas seasons and was expected back yesterday.
With just a few weeks more left before the top Caribbean Nations clash in the 50-over tourney, Guyana will have their opportunity to flex their muscles and identify and rectify any errors when they engage in two respective practice matches with the first being played on January 7th at the Everest Ground and the second match on January 9th at a venue to be confirmed later.
