Guyana’s win-less campaign in the Cricket West Indies Future Stars Under-17 regional tournament came as a result of weak batting and lack of preparation says coach of the side, Orin Bailey.
Guyana finished last ending with four losses and a washed out game at the competition held in Trinidad earlier this month.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport, Bailey said: “Basically the 14 guys that made up the team were intimidated by the opponents and they went into the tournament with little preparation.”
He said the team had no match practice ahead of the tournament with the one-week camp having only indoor training.
“Even in Trinidad and Tobago when we reached the weather was not on our side so we could not practice outdoors, even the matches were affected by rain,” said Bailey adding that despite the efforts from the seasoned players and management, some of the younger players were unable to come to grips with the level of cricket played and went in expecting something different.
Bailey said that it was only basic drills that were manageable under the conditions but ideally they needed at least match simulations.
Although the batting suffered tremendously Bailey says this has been the trend historically with the Guyana U17s.
“The batting suffered a lot over there, they weren’t prepared to deal with the tournament and the guys that we expected to do well didn’t,” Bailey said.
He gave as examples the opening match which saw them being bowled out for 91 and their second contest against eventual champions, Barbados where they made 141.
He said there were only two individual performances that stood out in both matches where the batting collapsed.
Mavindra Dindyal made 46 in the first game while Matthew Nandu made 71 not out in the second but those were lone hands in both matches which showed a lack of commitment from the players.
He said that he was frustrated by the decision to use Dindyal as the wicket-keeper rather than as a specialist batsman.
He explained that Dindyal was a key player in the batting order and to sacrifice him to tiredness due to keeping the entire innings was tough.
He also suggested that the team needed another fast bowler since the conditions of the tournament required the first 10 overs be fast bowling.
The team carried only two fast bowlers but one arrived late in the country and was unable to be declared.
However, Bailey said he was impressed with Chaitram Balgobin who is known for his off-spin but put his hand up to bowl seam in the tournament.
He pointed out that while Balgobin did not get the amount of wickets he would have wanted, he compensated for that with a decent economy rate, complemented with decent batting.
Bailey commended the bowlers for doing their job satisfactory but was critical of the batting order and the team’s fitness.
He said that during their training players could not complete a lap around the park and complained significantly of physical pains from just the warm-up sessions.
Looking forward, Bailey recommended that the authorities start looking at the best available options when it comes to the selection and start identifying players early so that they could be in proper shape ahead of tournaments.
