Guyana-born Trinidad & Tobago Red Force pacer Marlon Richards says playing Test cricket for the West Indies is his ultimate goal and that he believes improving his abilities as an all-rounder will help him to realize his dream.
The 27-year-old spoke exclusively with Stabroek Sport Tuesday from the Twin Island Republic, ahead of tomorrow’s sixth round match of the 2015/16 Professional Cricket league (PCL) Regional 4-Day competition against defending Champions, Guyana Jaguars at the Guyana National Stadium Providence.
Richards, a right-arm fast-medium bowler who was born in the mining town of Linden, has so far picked up 55 wickets from 22 First-Class matches at an average of 23.89.
He told this newspaper that while a call up to the West Indies team at any format is a dream, he believes that he’s more tailor-made for playing the longest format of cricket.
“Well everyone’s aim is to make West Indies it’s only natural and I would be happy to represent the Region in any format given the opportunity. But my ultimate goal is to play Test cricket because that is the highest level of the game anyone can reach. Basically, all I can do is to play to the best of my ability by taking wickets and scoring runs once I get the opportunity.”
Switching to the upcoming encounter against the undefeated table leaders, Guyana, Richards said that despite a successful 50-over title defence, he believes that the batting department will need to step up not only in the match against Guyana, but the remainder of the competition.
“We will be focusing a bit more on our batting because, over the years, our batting had let us down against good teams so that is the area we would be focusing a bit more.
He went on, “We had a three-day practice game and it was really good to see our main batsmen getting starts and a few of them going on to make big scores. The momentum is high coming off winning the Nagico Super50 so heading into to Friday’s game the Red Force will be keen on improving on against the Jags in their back yard.”
With just three wickets from three matches and a defiant 53 which he scored in the first half of the competition against the Jaguars, the fast-bowler said he is aiming to become a full-fledged all-rounder by the end of the season.
“As a fast bowler on the Guyana wicket I will have to be a bit patient and very consistent, because the wicket is a bit lower in terms of bounce and much more suitable to spinners so it is not a case where you can blast out a batting team. Having a bowling plan and patience are what would get you through,” he said.
“My goal at the end of the season is to improve my skill as an all-rounder. A lot of people know me more for my bowling ability. However, this season I’ve been able to put in a bit more work on my batting. Hopefully, at the season I would be able to see stats that would indicate an overall ability with the bat and ball”.
Despite their performances in the limited overs format, the Trinidad team has not yet fully clicked in the longer format and as a result, they enter the final half of the competition in fifth place with 37 points. However, with five more matches to go the former Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) player said that while a come-from-behind win was not impossible, improving as a team in the four-day format is their main priority.
“At the moment we are not really thinking about winning, we are more focused on improving our performances in the Regional four-day competition compared to what we did last season. We are currently mid table and an improved team performance will take us higher up the points table which will reflect a better team performance”.
