NATIONAL cricket coach and former middle-order batsman, Rabindranauth Seeram, yesterday notified Chronicle Sport of his optimism on Guyana’s performance in the second annual West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Caribbean Twenty20 tournament which bowls off next Monday in Antigua.
Taking a timeout from his team’s preparations at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at LBI , East Coast, Demerara, Seeram said that the absence of middle-order batsman Narsingh Deonarine would leave a void in the middle order, but he was confident his charges will repeat as champions.
“Basically, we have been forced to do a lot of fitness work due to the unavailability of grounds, as well as the inclement weather. Nevertheless, we did lots of work on fitness and I think the guys are fit and ready to go.
They are keen to go out there and do their best as the defending champions, knowing that all the teams will be coming hard at us this time around.”
Reflecting on the composition of the team, Seeram said the 14-man squad is a well balanced one, citing Deonarine’s withdrawal through injury as a hole.
“Certainly, in comparison to last year’s team, we do have a balanced squad going out to defend the title this time around. With the non-inclusion of Narsingh who is out due to injury, I think we have a hole in the middle, but basically the team is still a balanced one.”
Referring to the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) four-team series that the Guyanese contested last week and ended as runners-up to the T&T ‘A’ team, Seeram said it was perfect match practice leading up to the tournament.
“I think the guys took to the series well, despite we lost the first game. I am not making excuses, but a lack of match practice along with inept batting let us down in the first game, while the opposition played well.
The guys were presented with a chance to get a good knock in, with Chattergoon (Sewnarine) who came in for Narsingh, getting a good score while our other experienced opener Travis Dowlin did not get going, but I know he will at the right time for us” stated Seeram.
The 49-year-old Seeram who played 41 first class matches for Guyana between 1982 to 1992, where he aggregated 1 997 runs with three centuries and 12 half-centuries, said the one good thing that can be taken out of the T&T series, was the batsmen being given a chance to have a knock in the middle, coupled with the bowling of debutant Andre Stoll and right-arm leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.
“Basically, we came out successful with regard to the execution of our game plan after the first game blunder which caught us by surprise, since we did not have much practice. We did rebound in the second game and that give us the positives we need.”
Seeram was quick to point out that despite the unavailability of a wicket to have the much needed pitch practice due to the inclement weather, the team was working on their mental strength as well as maintaining their fitness level for the tournament.
“We are on a high. We strongly feel we can do it again, especially with the lineup we have, following the inclusion of West Indies middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, along with Jonathan Foo who burst onto the scene with a big spark last year.
Certainly, our death bowling is of concern to us once again but we are working on getting it right and with the inclusion of Stoll and Veerasammy Permaul, to complement Bishoo, Esaun Crandon, Christopher Barnwell and the other bowlers, certainly we can go out there and repeat, but we will be taking it one game at a time,” stated Seeram.
Guyana open their defence of the T20 title against Jamaica at the Sir Vivian Richards ground Monday night.
Their next opponent will be England’s county side Somerset at the same venue two days later from 16:00 h, before they take on the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) in their final match in Antigua next Friday from 20:00 h.
Their final preliminary round game will be against the Windward Islands on Tuesday  January 18 from 20:00 h at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, to  be followed by the final-four phase of the tournament.