IT’S EARLY days yet or some would say it is too soon to call, but Guyana Cricket Board Chairman of Selectors Rayon Griffith and National coach Esaun Crandon yesterday expressed pleasure at the results received from the various tests conducted with the 37-man squad at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday morning.With the exception of the West Indies trio of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine and Veerasammy Permaul, all other players named in the squad including Ronsford Beaton and Chandrapaul Hemraj who attended the WICB High Performance Centre in Barbados, were present in the sweltering heat.

“It was pretty satisfactory. I thought the guys put out the effort and they cooperated, gelled and assisted each other well as a unit, enabling us to successfully complet our planned work for today in a timely manner and I think that was good for us,” said Crandon.
This was after the players present, including Ramnaresh Sarwan, Leon Johnson, Christopher Barnwell, Paul Wintz and Keon Joseph, underwent a rigorous training exercise that consisted of a beep test, military press ups, planks and even short sprints.
“Nevertheless, despite the positive outlook we saw from some of the players, some of the guys were a bit sore, which means they have not done much work and we are looking at those areas and (will) identify the players who are not at the level of fitness and start giving them some extra work, but all in all we had a positive start,” posited Crandon.
The former national cricketer said only the beep test was the area of failure, since they expected better from the guys, especially knowing they were actively involved with their clubs prior to the GCB/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company/Hand-in-Hand four-day tournament.
“The attitudes of the players were heartwarming and overall I am definitely pleased with their work ethics. They assisted and encouraged one another and that is what we would like to see. We needed to see efforts and discipline and they showed us that today, even though it is the first day,” stated Crandon.
In his invited comment, Griffith said the session was fairly okay, even though it is early days yet, while he agreed with Crandon on the beep test, expressing his dissatisfaction with the results in this area.
“I thought that most of the players should have returned better results for this specific area; they should have done more work coming into this camp as it relates to the beep test, since it tells us if they were really training and what type of training they were really doing,” said Griffith.
He alluded to the fact that there is more work to be done, while in later days for the encampment period, the coaching/training staff, which also includes Berbice Cricket Board head coach Julian Moore, will be referring to their notes taken at yesterday’s session for future reference.
The squad will return to the venue for another session today, while the management team will review the options of a net session at the indoor facility of the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at LBI and even the concrete strip located at the Gandhi Youth Organisation ground.
Meanwhile, Chronicle Sport was informed of Malteenoes Sports Club’s first division skipper and national T20 off-spinning all-rounder Steven Jacobs’ choice to represent and lead the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board/NAGICO Super50 tournament.
Speaking with Hon. Secretary of the GCB and Director of the WICB Anand Sanasie who was on hand to witness part of the session yesterday, Chronicle Sport learnt that the final decision was left to Jacobs to make, after consultation between the player who played for the Amazon Warriors in the inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League and Griffith.
“A request was made from CCC to the GCB, for Jacobs to be released to lead that side in the NAGICO Super50 and same was granted, only after our Chairman of Selectors sat down and held a discussion with Jacobs, who had the final decision to make.
Out of that discussion, it was noted that should Jacobs, who is currently undergoing studies at the Cave Hill, St Michael Barbados-based University of the West Indies, decide to take up the offer from the CCC which he later did, he will have the full backing of the GCB,” said Sanasie.
He added, “In that discussion, it was highlighted to Jacobs the positives (deriving out of) his leading the CCC can have on his cricketing profile as well as his leadership skills and we at the GCB do not have any intentions of denying any player under our jurisdiction, the right to have upward mobility in the sport, hence we consented to the request from the CCC, while giving Jacobs our full backing.”
The 25-year-old played 14 first class matches for Guyana, scoring 420 runs at an average of 18.26 and with a topscore of 75, while he ahs taken 28 wickets at an average of 33.46, with his best returns being 4 for 61 against Jamaica last April, when Guyana faced that team in the WICB Regional four-day tournament at the Guyana National Stadium.
Written By Calvin Roberts