FORMER Guyana and West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd recently told Chronicle Sport, he is highly impressed with the batsmanship of Georgetown Cricket Club’s (GCC) pugnacious left-handed opening batsman Robin Bacchus.

The 69-year-old Lloyd, who was nicknamed ‘Super Cat’ in his heyday, played 110 Test matches for the West Indies where he scored 7 515 runs at an average of 46.67, with 19 tons and a highest score of 242 not out against India, said the recently concluded Limacol Caribbean Premier League was well organised and did the Caribbean proud.
Lloyd also said Guyana, a country that has produced so many Test players of yore, such as himself, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alvin Kallicharran, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lance Gibbs, Roger Harper and Travis Dowlin, has much talent that needs to be exposed.
“First of all, I must give kudos to Bobby Ramroop who, despite the circumstances he faced, bought into the CPL, branded it the Limacol Caribbean Premier League and watched as it truly blossomed into a Caribbean Cricket Party wherever the games were played.
“Added to that, patrons attending the matches and reaching the venue late, had no problem with accommodation since their seats were reserved and they were able to get their correct seating, which was highly commendable of the organierrs,” said Lloyd.
He showered praise on the local organising committee for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, whom he felt did a tremendous job in not only marketing all the games that were played here, but also filled the Guyana National Stadium to its capacity.
“It was a wonderful sight to see persons from all over Guyana, flock to the National Stadium to get a first-hand view of the action. The support shown to the Guyana Amazon Warriors was truly a patriotic one and if I may say, I think the LCPL bandwagon touched down too late in the Caribbean.”
He added, “I say so because of the tremendous input those former players had with their respective franchise teams was great, even though they all had a few international players on their roster and to my mind, the use of these former players also came 5 to 10 years late for us here in the West Indies.
“I’ve always said it time and time again, players such as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Viv Richards and even Jeffrey Dujon and Ian Bishop, just to name a few, have a lot that they can give to West Indies cricket and we need to capitalise and tap into their resources as quickly as possible.”
Quizzed on his views of Guyana’s cricket and where he sees it heading in the future, based on recent scenarios that took place, Lloyd said all and sundry needs to be involved, giving the young crop around today, a chance to hone their skill and showcase their talent.
“We have a lot of good young cricketers around and it would be great if they can be given the opportunity to harness and later showcase their talent at every age level.
But in order for that to be accomplished, we have to get all and sundry involved and whoever is the next president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), that individual needs to ensure that we have proper grounds for the game to be played on at all levels.”
He believes that the next president of the GCB should automatically be given two two-year terms, since there are tons of talent in Guyana and the authorities need to ensure the players get cerebral training, so that they can think through situations when in the middle.
“When I look around, I see players such as Christopher Barnwell, Leon Johnson and Ronsford Beaton and we need to see these players playing at the higher level continuously, while there is young Robin Bacchus, with whom I am impressed.
“He hits the ball hard with precise timings and that alone signals a potential that he can go a long way in the game, but we need to harness their talent early, less we lose them to the wayside,” said Lloyd.
He called on the Administrators at the University of Guyana, to introduce a Sports Curriculum, wherein persons can be tutored in subjects such as Sports Management and Sports Therapy, adding that the institution can use their own ground or even the national stadium for this purpose.
“When it comes to sports, we are better equipped, but I still need to see it develop nationally, not just cricket, but in general. I would love to see a much stronger Sports Council, where athletes can gain scholarships to Universities around the world.
“We need to look at what Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the Bahamas and even Barbados are doing and seek to match them stride for stride, since when it comes to sports, we are better equipped as our sportsmen and women possess a natural talent for the specific discipline they seek to pursue,” stated Lloyd.
“We have had 4 to 5 world champions in the boxing arena, but no gold medals and that is a haunting factor. I would love to see the day, when our National Anthem is played at the Olympic Games and hopefully, that will occur before I pass on.”
“Asked if he would throw his hat in for the presidency of the GCB at anytime within the future, Lloyd declined to give a positive response, but gently said, “I would look at things and see what happens, before I decide to pursue that career in my life.”