THE Guyana Amazon Warriors began a six-day training programme as part of preparations for the June 20 start of the much-anticipated Hero Caribbean Premier League (HCPL) T20 tournament. Six of the 15-members started the training camp yesterday at the Guyana National Stadium under new coach Carl Hooper.
Present during the first day of camp, which was affected by rain were local players Christopher Barnwell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ronsford Beaton, Trevon Griffith, Assad Fudadin and Paul Wintz.
Also present were the four Under-19 players, Shimron Hetmyer, Kemo Paul, Akshaya Persaud and Sherfane Rutherford, as well as the ICC Americas youth player Satsimranjit Dhindsa.
However, during an exclusive interview at the conclusion of the first day of the training camp, Hooper disclosed that the camp is vital for the continued development of each player, and that he wants to focus on the basics, especially sharp fielding and aggressive bowling.
“Specifically, I’m big on getting a lot of good aggressive fielding in and things like attacking the ball, throwing and hitting the stumps. I also want to encourage the bowlers especially to be more proactive, this is one of the things that we actually discussed this morning (yesterday) at our meeting before we started the day,” Hooper disclosed.
The former West Indies captain added, “Those are two areas I want to improve upon, the bowlers to be proactive just to be one step ahead of the batsmen, good variation and being able to execute and then good aggressive run-outs and to save some runs in the field.”.
The 48-year-old Hooper further pointed out that as part of the preparation, the players will undergo some intense exercise and cricket-related simulations, which will be capped by two practice matches on June 15 and 16.
“Basically we wanted to start today. We had a meeting before we started about some of the things we would try to implement in the camp. Obviously we will pay a lot of attention on detail and planning then have a chance to go into the net and execute,” Hooper explained.
Commenting on the squad, Hooper said, “Well, we’ve got a good squad, I mean the one thing I learnt last year when I was at the Hawksbill (Antigua) was that it was very important to have support from the local players and Guyana have always been a good Regional team.”
Hooper, who attended the Christ Church Secondary School continued, “When you have players the calibre of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who is back with us that’s a huge plus. We also got (Devendra) Bishoo, (Veerasammy) Permaul just to name a few and these guys will add nicely to the overseas players when they come in. So I think we have a good squad just like most of the other teams, but at the end of the day we have to prepare well and have a decent crack at winning this year.”
The ex-Guyana and West Indies all-rounder, who played 227 ODI internationals, is confident that the new-look Warriors squad is well equipped with the necessary tools for winning this year’s tournament.
Meanwhile, Australian Brad Hodge along with Trinidadians Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons will join the squad on Sunday.
Sri Lankan duo Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera will join the squad on June 17 in Barbados, while skipper Denesh Ramdin, Veerasammy Permaul and Devendra Bishoo will be available at the end of the second Test match between West Indies and Australia. That game ends on June 15.
Pakistan’s explosive batsman Umar Akmal, who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan is expected on July 4 in St Kitts.
Guyana will host four games between July 15 and 21. Guyana Amazon Warriors will feature in all four matches, as the organisers have opted to give each franchise four home games.
On July 15, Guyana Amazon Warriors will play 2013 champions Jamaica Tallawahs at 18:00hrs; on July 17 they will come up against St Lucia Zouks at 20:00hrs; on July 18 they will play defending champions Barbados Tridents at 16:00hrs; and on July 21, they will face Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel from 18:00hrs.
Unlike previous years when Guyana hosted matches earlier in the tournament, the South American nation will now stage the final round before the two eliminators and grand final in Trinidad and Tobago.
St Kitts and Nevis will host 10 games, Trinidad and Tobago seven, while Barbados, St Lucia and Jamaica will be the venue for four matches each.
A total of 33 games are billed for this year’s tournament, which will be contested by Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St Lucia Zouks, and Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots will make their maiden appearance in the tournament, replacing the Antigua Hawksbills, who played the first two editions.

By Rajiv Bisnuath