By Marlon Munroe
Guyana’s national cricket team’s preparedness for the Airtel Champions League T20 tournament in South Africa next month will come into sharp focus when they play Trinidad & Tobago this weekend at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA)/Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) ongoing saga aside, the national cricketers have been encamped and, according to earlier reports, the encampment will focus on every aspect of conditioning.
Yesterday the players were separated with the batsmen training at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at La Bonne Intention (LBI) and the bowlers operating at the stadium.
According to a source close to the team this is because it would have been a bit crowded at the training facility for the purpose of yesterday’s activities.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, was working with the bowlers on ‘spot bowling’ drills.
“We are looking to work on the length of uncertainty especially at the death of the innings and we want the bowlers to bowl more yorkers because those are very difficult to hit. ‘When the batsmen get accustomed to the length bowling they can always make adjustments and do what they want but in death there must be bowling that is not easy to dispatch,” he explained of the seamers.
He disclosed that the trainers are looking for the spinners to bowl with variety and not to allow opposing batsmen to get settled because the bowlers become predictable. The seamers are Esaun Crandon, Paul Wintz and Christopher Barnwell while the spinners are right arm leg spinner Devendra Bishoo and right arm off spinners Steven Jacobs and Royston Crandon.
The same precision bowling is required from the spinners. However, its is the belief that the spinners will have to strive harder for that length which will not afford batmen a free swing at them.
“We will only be able to tell them the areas where to put it (ball) in but they got to get accustomed to putting the balls in that area, especially when it comes to the in death situation where batsmen just come out to throw their bat at the ball,” he said.
He added that there will three more days of simulation exercises with the bowlers before their first assignment this weekend and noted also that since time was limited he believes that the players will be confident enough to put into effect what they are learning in their match against T&T on Saturday and Sunday.
Commenting on the vastly different conditions of South Africa and the quicker pitches, it was disclosed that the bowlers will be moving to the training facility where there are the artificial tracks that are faster later in the week to get accustomed somewhat to the faster pitches of South Africa.
