Guyana Jaguars Assistant Coach and Manager Rayon Griffith has confirmed that Barbadians Ryan Hinds and Javon Searles are scheduled to arrive in Guyana during the first week of August ahead of the 2015/15 Professional Cricket league (PCL) season.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports Sunday, Griffith informed this newspaper that his newly acquired players will indeed arrive next month when their contracts will be in effect.
The two players were both snapped up by the Jaguars on behalf of Cricket Guyana Inc. (CGI) during last month’s player draft as territories across the region sought to rebuild and remodel their teams ahead of the upcoming senior season.
Searles, the 28-year-old fast-bowler is currently representing the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in the ongoing Hero CPLT20 tournament
while the former West Indies all-rounder Hinds, is finishing up his cricket season in Trinidad & Tobago where his team Merry Boys won the recently concluded T20 competition.
Locally, those Guyana Jaguars players who are not representing Guyana in the HCPL, continue to train four days a week under the guidance of Griffith, Head Coach Esaun Crandon and the rest of the management team.
West Indies Test player Rajendra Chandrika, Vishaul Singh, Raun Johnson, Keon Joseph, Anthony Bramble and Tagenarine Chanderpaul are the senior players presently working with Griffith and company.
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) chairman of the national selectors said the sessions, which feature daily gym routines, jogs in the National Park and regular cardiovascular workouts, have been bringing out the best in the players who resumed training after a brief period of relaxation following Guyana’s triumph at the 2014/15 PCL Regional four-day title in April.
Discarded West Indies batsman Leon Johnson has also been working on his game and training daily according to Griffith who added that the CGI Academy players such as Robin Bacchus, Kemo Paul, Raj Nannan, Raun Johnson, Kemol Savory and others are also engaged in the camp and are working hard.
By August, the entire Guyana Jaguars team should be reunited as seniors players like Chris Barnwell, Ronsford Beaton, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul, Assad Fudadin, Shimron Hetmyer, Shiv Chanderpaul and Paul Wintz who are currently representing the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the HCPL, will be back home.
Griffith also hinted at a series of practice matches between the players as part of their camp while declaring that the academy players too will have a chance to impress when they take on the National under-19 team in a practice match ahead of the U19s departure for the WICB Regional U19 competition in Jamaica later this month.
The former national pacer said the players are injury free and fit at the moment and said that he expects their condition to further improve by the time the team sets out in their quest to defend the Regional four-day title beginning in November.
