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WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 | guyanatimeSinternational.com
Griffith seeing positive signs ahead of regional season
- more opportunities in pipeline for youth players By Akeem Greene
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eigning threetime champions Guyana Jaguars will open their title defence of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League (PCL) 4-Day Tournament against Jamaica Scorpions at the National Stadium, Providence on October 26. In the quest for a fourth successive title, the champions have begun preparations early with their ongoing three-day franchise league and regular sessions with their contracted and academy players. With preparations in full swing, Assistant Coach and Manager of the Guyana Jaguars, Rayon Griffith is enthused about the signs he has seen from the players. “Plans have been going well for us. Since the competition finished [last year], we started training two weeks after until this day. The guys
The Guyana Jagauars are reigning threetime champions and will soon begin the hunt for a fourth successive title
were lacking cricket given the weather we have had over the last couple of months, but I am very happy they are back playing cricket now,” he told this newspaper on Wednesday at the Everest Cricket Club. Last season, the Jaguars only suffered two defeats and to some, it could be considered a
breakthrough season for the youths. Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Clinton Pestano, Bhaskar Yadram, Sherfene Rutherford, and Chandrapaul Hemraj all were given opportunities and responded with commendable performances. More so, with the core of the squad possibly set
to miss the early rounds owing to West Indies senior team and A-team duty and to some extent, West Indies Under -19 preparation camps, it opens the door for others to make their mark. “Those youths have always been talented and they were given that opportunity, and they represented themselves
well and the country. A lot of guys will be missing the first two rounds, so a lot of youngsters will be given an opportunity,” the former FirstClass player disclosed. He added, “With the setup we have in Guyana, the door is open for these guys, we want to nourish them and maintain their presence in the regional programme.” The litmus test for these players will be the current seven-franchise three-day league. While there are varying views on the level of cricket being produced, Griffith felt it essentially presents an opportunity for them to be actively involved in cricket. “We can talk about the quality of the league. It might not be high as you want it, but it is still good enough. They are playing and they will learn because the environment has been created for them,” the Coach contended. One new player in the squad is Jamaican all-rounder and former
West Indies Under-19 Captain Ramaal Lewis, who has just one FirstClass match under his belt. “I have known him [Ramaal Lewis] for the past couple of years. I think he has a good head in knowing cricket and is a good all-rounder. We are lacking of that off-spinning all-rounder, so he can bring something to the table,” the 38-year-old stated. At the draft held in July, Jaguars retained Leon Johnson, Tagnarine Chanderpaul, Anthony Bramble, Raymon Reifer, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie, and Keon Joseph. Rajendra Chandrika, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Ramaal Lewis, and Tevin Imlach were then selected. These players would be joined by Cricket West Indies-contracted players Devindra Bishoo, Vishaul Singh and Shimron Hetemyer. Only Assad Fudadin opted out for a contract to join the Scorpions.
Holder laments missed opportunity ... but buoyant ahead of England meeting
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ELFAST, Ireland (CMC) — West Indies Captain Jason Holder has rued the washed out OneDay International against Ireland, which robbed the Caribbean side of valuable match practice ahead of the upcoming five-match series against England. A wet outfield caused by heavy overnight rain had initially delayed the toss yesterday at the Civil Service Cricket Club, but the rains eventually returned before a scheduled 1:30 pm (8:30 am Eastern Caribbean time) inspection, forcing officials to call off the contest. “I don't think it was close to playable. The outfield was pretty saturated,” Holder said in reference to the ground. “The umpires always had a concern about how wet it was, and they felt it would have been a lot of slipping and sliding
and didn't want to take the risk. I couldn't really disagree with them too much, but hopefully we can go into England with some confidence.” The fixture was an important one for Ireland who were only recently granted Test status by the International Cricket Council. Much of their recent competition has come against former fellow associate nations and the fixture against West Indies was an opportunity to put their skills against a full ICC member side. Holder said he was aware of the importance of the fixture to the Irish and hoped the two teams could meet again soon. “It's really disappointing. I've heard a lot of people say the Irish Cricket Board put a lot of money into this game and it's really unfortunate that we
weren't able to put on a show for them, but hopefully in the future we can be back here and spread some joy to the Irish people.” West Indies have had no limited-overs practice as they prepare to face England in the first ODI at Old Trafford starting next Tuesday. They fly out on Thursday to prepare for the one-off Twenty20 International against England at Chester-leStreet on Saturday, and Holder said his squad were looking forward to the next phase of the tour. “We move on to England now. It's a quick turnover — we came in yesterday (Tuesday) and we're flying out tomorrow over to Durham,” he said. “We start the T20 series there — it's only a one-off T20 and then we're into the fivematch ODI series.”