HEAD Coach of the Guyana based franchise team which will compete in this year’s inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 Championships, Roger Harper, last Saturday told Chronicle Sport he is confident the team can do well.
Harper, along with his assistant Curtly

Ambrose, Media and Administration Officer Omar Khan and franchise player Sunil Narine (via Skype), selected the team at last Wednesday’s draft which was held at the Half Moon Bay Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The quartet selected the following players to represent the Guyana franchise in the tournament, Sunil Narine, Mohammed Hafeez, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin, James Franklyn, Christopher Barnwell Martin Guptill, Krishmar Santokie, Steven Jacobs, Ronsford Beaton, Trevon Griffith, Narsingh Deonarine, and Veerasammy Permaul.
According to the CPL website, Guyana has a balanced team with a number of exciting players coming from the territory, including speedster Beaton, Barnwell, Deonarine, Permaul, and Sarwan, who form a cadre that also includes Narine (TT), Hafeez (Pakistan), Simmons (TT), Ramdin (TT), Franklyn and Guptil (New Zealand) and Santokie (Jamaica), a fact that was highlighted by Harper.
“All in all, I feel satisfied with the team that we managed to put together. It was a little bit of a tricky situation, but I think we’ve got a good team, considering the type of competition we will be playing and considering also the fact that we will be playing three games in Guyana as well.
“I think there is a good balance of batting and a number of capable bowlers in this format of the game and lots of experience there to blend in with some of the young players that we have got as well, so I think we got a good group and very competitive one as well,” posited Harper.
The 50 year- old Harper, who in his own rights is a former Guyana and West Indies allrounder, former head coach of both Kenya and the West Indies and presently head of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA), said the team will be undergoing a one week encampment period before the tournament gets underway.
“The plan from CPL is to have a week’s camp just prior to the tournament, due to a lot of international assignments that a lot of the players would be involved in. I think that getting them together for a week prior to the tournament can put the team in good stead.”
Quizzed on whether he was shocked at not being able to acquire the services of discarded leg spinner Devendra Bishoo for the Guyana franchise, Harper said: “The way it was done, that sort of thing can happen and I think from Bishoo’s perspective, the fact that another team was keen on getting him speaks highly of him.
We would have loved to have him in our lineup, but it did not work out that way, but good luck to him in representing his new team.
“I still expect our team to be very competitive. I think like all the teams, we have a good chance of winning the tournament. It is up to how quickly we can get our act together and play the best cricket as early as possible and get a chance to go into the semifinals and then the finals.”
Asked whether he sees this venture as a launching pad of his international coaching career, even though he was overseeing several developmental projects within the GCA, with the able assistance of his elder brother Mark and upcoming coach Quason Nedd, Harper said it was good to have such an opportunity once again.
“I have not really in the recent past pursued any assignments, for the simple reason that I chose to stay close to home, but it is good to have another opportunity at this level and I am really looking forward to it,” said Harper.
The Guyana franchise team, which will soon be named by the Directors of the CPL, will play their opening game against the Trinidad and Tobago franchise at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence on July 31.
They wing into action two days later, when they oppose the Jamaican franchise team, for which talismanic opener Christopher Gayle is tipped to be the skipper, at the same venue, before wrapping up their home games against the St. Lucia franchise team, two days after the contest against the Jamaicans.