Guyana was once the epicentre for producing quality off-spinners and even those who occasionally rolled their arms over had measured success at both the first-class and international level.
Today, there seems to be a shortage and when you look around the world, you have to wonder whether off-spin is a dying art. Of late there have been few quality off-spinners.
Perhaps the advent of T20 cricket has had an impact on the foregoing.
Currently, on the international scene, only Australian Nathan Lyon is really roaring these days. The off-spinner is commonly referred to as Australia’s greatest right arm finger spinner and there is no debating that. India’s Ravichandran Ashwin is another modern-day cavalier.
Similarly, off-spinners are in short supply in Guyana as well. Gone are the days, it seems when youngsters aspire to fit the mould of West Indian legend Lance Gibbs, Clyde Butts, Roger Harper, Carl Hopper or even Garvin Nedd who had limited opportunities simply because of the quality of those mentioned before.
I remembered when I had aspirations of taking the game seriously; my youth coach Forbes Daniels made quite a keen observation of how I should approach the game.
At the time he urged me to make an assessment of the makeup of the then Guyana team; this was during the early and mid-2000s. He noted that if you wanted a shot at being considered as a middle-order batsman, then my off-spin had to be regarded as much more than that of a part-timer. Such was the impact of those off spinning legends mentioned before. His counsel held bearing.
The Guyana team back then as I remembered included a couple of really decent off-spinners but some might argue Imran Jafarally had no business being around the Guyana team but he was selected as an off-spinner and made five first-class appearances.
Lennox Cush, Royston Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Dion Ferrier, Orin Ford and perhaps most recently, Steven Jacobs were all similar types of players around the Guyana team and had the common feature of being middle-order batsmen who bowled more than useful off-spin. Only Crandon and Deonarine went on to play For West Indies but there was a trend unfolding there. To get into a Guyana side, you had to bat a bit and well, be a decent enough off-break bowler.
It was a method for Guyana’s success. Daniel’s theory worked for me. I represented Guyana at the youth levels (U15, U17, and U19) until I decided to walk away from the sport.
But to refer to my earlier observation is the art so synonymous with Guyana’s cricketing legacy dwindling?
Are we coaching these kids the right way? Are there plans to revive Guyana’s off-spinning legacy? I don’t know the answer but someone in Guyana needs to address them and make a concerted effort to revive Guyana’s off-spinning legacy.
The game though is changing and with the advent of T20 cricket and the fascination with mystery spinner, more and more leg spinners and seam bowling all-rounders are emerging.
It’s good for the game but a quality off-spinner who draws a batsman onto the front foot and defeats him in flight, is something beholding to watch. It is for that reason that I stay up at nights to watch the Lyon prowl.
To further establish my point, just glance at the current Guyana Jaguars side. There are a plethora of seam bowling all-rounders in Keemo Paul, Romario Shepperd, Clinton Pestano, the adopted Raymond, Chris Barnwell, Ronald Ali Mohammed and Sherfane Rutherford.
But where are the off-spinners? There is in Kevin Sinclair who is now making his way. He is talented and I wish him well but it will be interesting to see what he morphs into.
