EVEN though the Guyana national team playing under the name Amazon Conquerors failed to win any of their four preliminary round games in the recently concluded Airtel Champions League in South Africa, they leave these shores this morning a confident bunch to compete in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional limited overs tournament in Jamaica.
Not since Shivnarine Chanderpaul led Guyana to the WICB/KFC Cup back in 2005 has Guyana ever won a regional limited overs title, even though they advanced to the final four of the 2006 and 2007 tournament while they failed to reach that far in the 2008 and 2009 tournaments.
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, former national middle order batsman Rabindranauth Seeram who is executing the duties of coach since midway through the 2009 WICB four day tournament, believes his charges led by West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan can bring home the bacon.
“Having not won a Regional limited overs title since 2005, I think this present crop of players led by Sarwan can go to Jamaica and bring home the title.
We are feeding off the strength that brought us the Caribbean T20 title two months ago and while our preparations have not been the best due to time, our players have been having a good time in the middle with the various competitions they participated in,” stated Seeram.
At the time he gave the invited comment, Seeram and his charges were engaged in their first practice session at the world renowned Georgetown Cricket Club ground Monday last, following the Guyana Cricket Board’s El Dorado Inter-county tournament which was won by Berbice.
He continued to state, “Basically, every team wants to win, but we have a more than excellent chance, with two of our experienced players in Sarwan and Chanderpaul available and once the younger guys rally around them, I don’t see why we cannot win the title.”
The 49 year old coach said the camaraderie within the team is great even though they have been together for a short while and credits same to the group of guys who were in South Africa and are a part of the team to go to Jamaica.
“We have a fabulous team spirit so far and this is due mainly to the fact that the core of the team comprised players who were part of the unit in South Africa and this is something teams would need before they compete in any tournament.”
Seeram was not hesitant to say that he wished to have the performance in South Africa placed on the back burner, so that the guys can focus on the task ahead.
“Certainly and I say this with no apologies, what took place in South Africa was blown out of proportion. Yes we did have a few hiccups and which team does not have hiccups, but it was handled in a swift and professional manner by those involved as quickly as possible.
Lo and behold, we were made to understand that something else was written in the local press, unknown to the management team which comprised the manager, captain, vice -captain and myself and we were surprised, as we were not aware of what the reporter said took place.”
When asked about the composition of the present team, which saw the axe falling on West Indies openers Travis Dowlin and Sewnarine Chattergoon as well as wicketkeeper/batsman Derwin Christian, Seeram who is also a member of the selection panel said the selectors were looking at selecting teams for the respective tournaments.
“First of all, upon selection of any team you must have balance and to my mind, this team is a balanced one. Added to that, the selectors were looking at selecting teams for the respective tournaments and while some members of this team have not played at the Regional level before, we believe they can deliver the goods.
Once again, our strength is in the batting department, led by Chanderpaul while our bowling still remains an area of concern as there is only one specialist bowler in Devendra Bishoo while we have batsmen who can bowl such as Christopher Barnwell, Royston Crandon and Narsingh Deonarine.”
He further stated, “Since the departure of Reon King, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Neil Mc Garrell and Colin Stuart, there has been a strong need for specialist bowlers as our back up bowlers have been tasked with executing the job on more than one occasion.
Nevertheless, I believe we have what it takes to triumph in the upcoming tournament which will see our skipper lifting the trophy at the presentation ceremony after the final on Sunday 24th October at Sabina Park,” Seeram said.
The Guyanese, who are grouped in Group B, play their first match on Friday against the WICB High Performance Centre (HPC) at Kensington Park, followed by fixtures against Barbados and the Leeward Islands at Sabina Park on 17th and 19th October respectively.
The 14 man squad reads: Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Royston Crandon, Assad Fudadin, Steven Jacobs, Richard Ramdeen, Leon Johnson, Narsingh Deonarine, Christopher Barnwell, Devendra Bishoo, Keon Joseph, Esaun Crandon, Anthony Bramble and Jonathan Foo. Carl Moore (manager) and Rabindranauth Seeram (coach).