By Romario Samaroo
Former national under-17 captain, Sheldon Charles is progressing with his training in order to excel at both local and regional under-19 tournaments.
In light of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Charles has been restricted in on-field practice but has been using the time to focus on different aspects of his game.
He told Stabroek Sport, “I’ve been focusing on my fitness and working hard to fine-tune that area of my game and for the while, I have been doing a lot of distance running at the Lima ball field every morning.”
The all-rounder explained that due to the situation, Essequibo does not have cricket matches nor practice which is severely affecting his plans. “I’m adapting to the situation good. I have been doing a lot of running and sprinting and home workout but there just isn’t any pitch practice which is very important,” he said.
The pandemic has forced the postponement of both Guyana Cricket Board under-19 Inter-County tournament as well as Cricket West Indies’ Regional format. However, Charles sees the setback as an opportunity to get more training done in order to be better prepared for the competitions.
“I guess the tournaments will be pushed back more but I am hopeful they are not cancelled and in the meantime, more time to train will be better for me,” he said.
The former captain opined that Essequibo’s preparation has been hampered since they usually would have trial matches and none was possible at the time.
He is, however, encouraging all the prospective players to continue to do personal work to better their game and be prepared for when the time comes to play.
Charles has set himself personal goals he wants to achieve in the upcoming competitions, noting that his batting is an area he wants to improve on.
The right hand batsman stated, “Well I did set myself a few goals, one of which is that I want to score a lot of runs since I have been paying lot of attention to it now and get a lot of wickets…I have been dominating with the ball in past regional tournaments and I want to continue dominating.”
Over the past years, the former Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School student has gained a lot of experience having represented Guyana at the under-15 and under-17 levels as well as being invited to show his worth to West Indies under-19 head coach, Graeme West when he visited ahead of the under-19 World Cup.
The right-arm quick reckoned that this experience is sitting well with him and he is unbothered with the expectations of being one of the key players in the side but suggested that these labels motivate him to excel. “I do accept that I have to perform well all the time and yes I have learned a lot, I know the guys expect a lot from me and it is something that keeps me going, I like the challenge and the leadership exposure I got from being under-17 captain has boosted my understanding of the game a lot,” Charles related.
However, the 17-year-old credited the inclusion of a lot of senior officials and players as a beneficial aspect that has helped make his role a bit easier.
“Well the responsibility aspect, I have been working on a lot because it’s something I have been doing a lot for many teams I have played with and I just keep doing what I have to do, there are persons who support me in my team a lot so that’s a big plus for me,” he stated.
Cricket West Indies’ Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave has expressed optimism with the body fulfilling its schedule and fitting both under-17 and under-19 tournaments by the July/August timeframe.
