WITH a view to further strengthen the cricket skills of the young players who are attached to clubs affiliated to the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA), the Roger Harper led cricketing body  commenced a clinic for young spinners and fast bowlers yesterday. Over 15 fast bowlers and 16 spinners were taken through various techniques by Harper, who received assistance from his brother Mark and former national Under-19 fast bowler Quason Nedd, on the Muslim Youth Organisation hard court in brilliant sunshine, with the speedster utilizing the morning session from 09:00hrs to 12:00hrs, while the spinners were there from 13:00hrs to 16:00hrs respectively.
In an invited comment, Roger Harper, himself a former Guyana and West Indies off-spinner said he was heartened at the response shown by the players, who displayed a hunger to learn new tricks, with the view to further strengthen their game.
“The whole idea is to do some work with our young players, to improve their skills and make sure they have a good understanding of the fundamentals of the game,” said the GCA head.
He told Chronicle Sport that the morning session was attended by fast bowlers-15 in total- while yesterday afternoon session which was held for the spinners, saw 16 of them turning up at the venue, including Raj Nannan, Devon Lord, Javed Rasheed, Parnell London and Winston Forrester, just to name a few.
“The youngsters are very keen and willing to learn and they have showed this eagerness at both sessions held this morning and afternoon respectively and I must say that it is amazing to know of the things they are not aware of. But they have been very receptive and it has been a joy working with them.”
Quizzed on whether the GCA would be hosting the clinics on a weekly basis, especially with the present inclement weather preventing the playing of the game in Georgetown and at large Guyana, Harper said the aim of his body is to continue working with the young players.
“Our aim is to develop their skills and the knowledge of the game and we wont be able to host clinics such as this one every weekend, but we will try to host a few.
The weather has really hampered us this summer, for even though the children are out from school, we could not get our competitions, especially the youth tournaments in full swing, but we do intend to get a few more clinics in, to keep the players mind sharp.”
The fast bowlers will return to the venue this morning for another session, while the spinners will return for another session on Tuesday morning, with wicketkeepers and batsmen to follow shortly after –  on a date, time and venue to be announced by the GCA.