Dear Editor,
These are my thoughts on the Guyana performance in the recent 50 over CWI tournament for the Sir Clive Lloyd trophy.
When the Guyana squad was selected I was no doubt quite happy with the bowlers selected but was disappointed that Jonathan Foo and Kevin Anderson did not make the cut into the final squad, as I saw Foo as an X factor player who can change the game in the middle order while the West Indies under 19 star Anderson did possess the footwork and skill to score at a fairly good rate in this white ball format.
It is important I focus on the final which is very much in my thoughts and although accepting in my mind that the T&T Red Force would no doubt have started as the favourites, Guyana were capable of at least competing against a more experienced opponent. The Red Force did produce what looked to be an unbeatable total although Guyana was able to break the 100 partnership when Lewis fell to Motie for 57. However, Guyana did not get the rub of the green when it felt that Simmons seemed to be LBW to the left arm spinner just about half way through his innings, and he went on to score 146. Darren Bravo 47, Nicholas Pooran 39 and Kieron Pollard all scored over a run-a-ball rate to build on the excellent start of 121 off 19.4 overs by the Trinidad openers.
I honestly felt that Captain Leon Johnson made an initial error in not starting the Guyana attack with in-form Nial Smith who had shown in the competition that he was capable of taking top order wickets with his aggression. Instead, Johnson went for the more defensive Raymond Reifer who no doubt had bowled an important spell of containment against the Windwards in Guyana’s previous match. When eventually Smith came back the T&T batsmen were set but he showed his class and character by taking 1-59 off of 9 overs and must have been surprised that his captain did not allow him to bowl his full 10. Gudakesh Motie again displayed his talent to the West Indies selectors by producing 10 skillful overs and conceding only 43 runs for his one scalp. The major bowling disappointment for the day was Romario Shepherd and all must admit he had a disappointing showing, never producing the excellent work with the ball and bat that he displayed in New Zealand, and throughout the tournament his length was ragged as it was in the final where he seemed to have lost total confidence, spirit and will. He ended up with 2–105 from his 10 overs. This was not the Shepherd we saw that earned a place in the West Indies ODI squad by bowling just back of a length on the top of the off stump and the line heavily applauded by commentator Ian Bishop. It is hoped that it was just a series of bad days at the office and the Phil Simmons coaching staff will provide the necessary supporting work to get him back with consistency and control. With all due respect to the experience of Veerasammy Permaul I did not think it was wise for him to be included in the final 11, after having little or no cricket in Bangladesh for almost a month and a half, the long flight back to Antigua and a short period of quarantine.
When Guyana began their task of getting close to the T&T total of 362 it was not outstanding bowling that took the wickets of the Guyanese but sheer
irresponsible and senseless batting, finding ways to bring their own downfall. Imlach was guilty of playing across the line instead of playing into the V, to be followed by a reckless shot by Shimron Hetmyer from a wide innocuous delivery from Rampaul, only to be followed by Captain Johnson playing a weak shot off the same bowler to be well caught in the gully by Philip while Barnwell picked out Mohammed at deep backward square off the bowling of the promising Seales while Shepherd became another Rampaul victim and the scoreboard displayed Guyana at 55-6.
It was almost over except for the courage and commitment of Reifer as St.Clair added 39 with him after throwing his wicket away by being caught in the deep unnecessarily. Permaul stayed around to add 38 to the Barbadian born all-rounder and Motie in getting 28 saw Reifer into the 90s before he was dismissed. The West Indian all rounder did try to jockey the bowling with his list A century in mind while on 97 but Smith with the job of facing two deliveries so that Reifer could have achieved his quest of 100 in the following over was bowled by Seales first ball, attempting an attacking shot instead of defending. This left Reifer 97 not out from 112 balls with seven 4’s and three 6’s in the gallant effort as Guyana ended on 210 in 43.5 overs.
Looking ahead I think it is time for Hetmyer to be given the captaincy of the 20/20 and 50 over squads and the organizers of the Guyana Amazon warriors franchise may also consider that he be given an opportunity to lead that entity. He however must clearly understand that leadership begins with him and must demonstrate and carry out a much more disciplined performance with the bat against the ill-advised approach to hit bowlers no matter what the state of his team’s innings, out of the ground. Hetmyer must have a sense of history for who came before him and made all of the West Indies and Guyana extremely proud of them. He needs to look at the career of left handers like himself Roy Fredericks, Sir Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran and Shiv Chanderpaul who were all attacking players when needed but appreciated the need to start and build an innings for their team. Hetmyer’s over-attacking approach did not start yesterday and when playing in St. Lucia for Guyana against the Windwards in November of 2016 he tried to square cut a delivery from the Windward medium fast bowler-Mervin Matthews as his innings started only to be caught at backward point by Devin Smith and that rashness has continued ever since to this day. After my duties as a commentator ended at close of play I sought permission from his Captain and Manager to speak to the talented left hander and pointed out that cut shots square of the wicket are not advisable at the start of an innings not having picked up the pace and bounce of the pitch and advised the talented left hander to play into the “V” for the early part of any innings. The entire Caribbean heard what I can only describe as an act of contrition in an interview before the final against the Red Force, only for him to display yet again another atrocious performance when his team needed him to bat deep into the overs.
I have no doubt that his financial future is well assured as he heads back to another year of IPL as the tournament goes back to India, but whether he will in-fact regain his place in all formats of the game and especially the WI Test team, will depend heavily on how he performs when given any further opportunity in the 2021 home series. Leon Johnson as Captain of the Guyana’s first class outfit is expected to continue to lead Guyana in the 2021 WI season and may consider going lower in the batting order at number 6 to play that Captain’s role that he is capable of producing. What is important for Guyana’s cricket in the coming months is that all cricketers go about playing the game that they so love under an atmosphere of a settled Guyana cricket administration.
Yours faithfully,
J Reds Perreira
Former West Indies commentator
