– admits training as a pacer during lockdown was challenging

By Clifton Ross

NIAL Smith, the fiery Guyana Jaguars quick, said he’s poised to return to action following a lengthy break due to COVID-19, revealing that training as a fast-bowler during lockdown was a good test.

The rookie quick-bowler, who hails from Berbice, told Chronicle Sport on Monday, roughly a week after being named in the Jaguars 15 who secured A, B and C contracts respectively for the 2020/21 season, that playing for his country was the greatest emotion a young cricketer could feel.

“It was a great feeling because playing for Guyana was something I’ve always dreamed of. You always want to represent your team of play for your country and do well and that happen for me; I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work; I had a good season and getting a contract; I just want to push forward keep doing better for the Jaguars”, Smith declared.

Much like his teammates, the venomous right-hander was relegated to makeshift training methods due to the pandemic. However, being arguably the fastest bowler in his team came at a stiff price, as facilities which would usually afford bowlers the chance to work on their craft have been and remain closed until further notice.

Smith, however, admitted that he has been working more on his batting which is already decent, while lauding the efforts of team physio, Neil Barry, for working daily with the Jaguars players via ZOOM; up until things return to some normality.

“It was very challenging I must say (isolated training), because we were not able to go out as usual and do fielding, batting practice and more. I do some workouts with Barry every day and he’s very reliable and he gets along with the team very well”.

“It’s good to work with him, but I work with myself, I do a lot of strength training and I’m doing some batting practice because there isn’t much room to run in where we practice. So I’m working on improving my batting and hopefully when this is all over, I can get back to working on my bowling”, said an optimistic Smith

With the 2020/21 Regional season still under COVID-watch, franchises have more time to further gel their new pieces together or work with developing squads, but a team like the 5-Time champs have stuck with a familiar 15 for this upcoming season; prompting Smith, who has 20 wickets from just 7 1^st Class matches, to further back his crew to do well whenever play resumes.

“I think we are going to do well this season. I think our 15 is a perfect 15 in terms of the mix of youth and experience Guys. These guys show you a lot of stuff, they are very experienced, they made a good choice in blending the youngsters with the seniors because the younger guys are the future for Guyana cricket, so I think it’s a very good pick,” ended the fast-bowler.