Chairman of Guyana’s senior selection panel, Ramnaresh Sarwan aims to bring about a new dispensation to go with the renamed Guyana Amazon Jaguars.
Sarwan’s aim is for higher fitness standards which he hopes will lead to better averages.
Sarwan, while speaking at the Guyana Cricket Board’s first press conference in over seven months on Saturday, made it clear that there will be no compromises as it relates to fitness standards.
“We will have zero tolerance towards that… About six to eight months ago we had a meeting with the players to discuss our expectations of them in terms of their performance and fitness level, however we haven’t really had any cricket,” he said.
Sarwan added, “We’ve noticed there are a lot of problems along with players’ fitness and we’ve noticed there has been a trend and that trend is the guys who are playing the shorter format of the game which is the T20 and T10 we find they are falling short on the fitness test.”
Cricket West Indies’ selectors have indicated that Guyanese players, Chandrapaul Hemraj and Sherfane Rutherford have both failed to meet the fitness standards to qualify for selection.
Sarwan indicated that he has informally recommended a stricter approach towards fitness standards, referencing the levels necessary in the Indian Premier League.
He noted that West Indies have set their standard at 40 on the yo-yo test and “in Guyana’s case, we are looking to set that at 45 so at least the players will have some sort of cushion.”
The former Test captain indicated that Guyana has won the Regional First-Class tournament five out of the last six seasons but that has not really translated into producing players for the West Indies.
He said that while the bowlers have done a “wonderful job” over the years, batsmen continue to average 25 to 35 despite playing for about a decade. Thus, it is his goal to bring them up to averages in excess of 40.
The Chairman of Selectors suggested that there will be some changes ahead of the upcoming first-class season in February but was cognizant that there should not be a position where there is an overhaul of Guyana’s cricket or the batting department.
“I just want to say that there are opportunities that will be given to young players and we would also have a smooth transition where we have youth and experience together,” he said.
Sarwan revealed that he has been following West Indies’ Under-19 batting all-rounder, Matthew Nandu, Kevlon Anderson and wicketkeeper batsman, Tevin Imlach.
Along with Sarwan, Peter Persaud, Otto Christiani and Albert Smith make up the senior selection panel.
