The first of two Guyana Harpy Eagles four-day practice matches featuring a large pool of youngsters and senior national players bowls off today at the GCC Ground, Bourda from 9:30 am and Head Coach of the National team, Ryan Hercules has said that his interest is piqued as the players will vie for spots in the national setup.
The Harpy Eagles who won the Cricket West Indies (CWI) CG Insurance Regional Four-Day title last year, will look to defend their title despite the absence of several key players who are on West Indies duty in Australia and franchise cricket tournaments around the world. Among those missing for the Harpy Eagles is spinner Gudakesh Motie, wicket-keeper batsman Tevin Imlach, batsman Tagenarine Chanderpaul, pacer Shamar Joseph and all-rounder Kevin Sinclair. The latter was fundamental to the Harpy Eagles’ success last season having made important contributions with both bat and ball.
Despite this Hercules told Stabroek Sport “While we have quite a few guys missing, I think it’s a perfect opportunity for the younger batch of players who will be on show from today. It’s an opportunity to show the selectors what they are capable of doing, they have to make use of this opportunity. You can see an example of taking opportunities right now. A prime example of grabbing opportunities is Shamar Joseph who is now selected for West Indies despite having never played youth cricket at the national or regional level. It will be very interesting over the course of the next two matches to see how the youngsters perform”.
He added: “Obviously there are still a few senior guys who will be there, we still have Ronsford Beaton, Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savoury, Nial Smith and Veerasammy Permaul among others. It will be a good opportunity for the younger guys to take patterns from the senior players. They should pick the brains of the senior guys during the matches and use the time spent with them in the dressing room and on the pitch to see how they could add to their respective games”.
While youngster Matthew Nandu will lead an XI against Antony Adams, a 14-year-old from Berbice, Adrian Hetmyer, 14, has been called up among the players slated to head into action today.
Zooming in on the young Hetmyer’s inclusion, Hercules maintained; “I think it’s great for the young man, I’ve never seen him in action before but every time you read the news from Berbice cricket, he’s getting a big century at the U-15 or U-17 level. He keeps churning out runs”.
Quizzed on whether or not he thinks it is too early for Hetmyer to step up to the first class level, Hercules stated; “There’s only one way to find out if it’s too early for him to come into this level, it’s interesting to see, from the GCB perspective especially. It is important to see how we could manage him. If it’s too early, if he shows potential, that way we can now go ahead and see if we can keep him around the setup to groom him for the next step. They can now see how he can benefit from this outing”.
As it is, the youngster will be under the charge of Hercules who is the coach for the Antony Adams XI. “I will do my best to make him comfortable, make sure he fits in as smoothly as possible. I will try to make sure there is a conducive environment for the young man to go out and give his best”, Hercules declared.
The teams are:
Antony Adams XI (Team A) – Anthony Adams (Captain), Sachin Singh, Rampertab Ramnauth, Kevlon Anderson, Akshaya Persaud, Zachary Jodah, Zeynul Ramsammy, Joshua Persaud, Aryan Persaud, Junior Sinclair, Quentin Sampson, Rivaldo Phillips, Sylus Tyndall, Malcom Hubbard, Adrian Hetmyer, Bruce Vincent and Clinton Pestano.
Coach: Ryan Hercules
Matthew Nandu’s XI (Team B) – Matthew Nandu (Captain), Raymon Perez, Shamar Yearwood, Kemol Savory, Richie Looknauth, Brandon Jaikaran, Jonathan Rampersaud, Johnathan Van Lange, Gulcharran Chulai, Veerasammy Permaul, Nial Smith, Thaddeus Lovell, Ronsford Beaton, Ashmead Nedd, Ronald Alimohamed, Ushadeva Balgobin and Steven Sankar.
Coach: Garvin Nedd
