Wanted: Skilled and disciplined batsmen

By Delvon McEwan

 

Urgent! Vacancies exist for batsmen to fill various batting positions for future senior inter-county tournaments.

Here are the requirements for the job: must be able to bat for long periods, must be a critical thinker and have respect for the game.

Basic common sense is compulsory. Applicants should only apply if they intend to make cricket a full time career. NB: Lucrative salaries will be offered to all successful applicants. Applications must be sent to the relevant authorities before the end of the year.

As a teenager, on a school tour to Barbados to participate in the Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools Cricket Competition, I remembered being asked by a 12-year-old fan who travelled with the team, why a teammate who had shown immense talent with the bat had not applied for a spot on the West Indies team.

I was surprised that an aspiring cricketer was not aware of the criteria to become a WI player. His explanation about why a batsman who batted for eight straight games, scored the second highest runs for the tournament, batted most of my team’s innings and was unbeaten on most occasions was not playing at the highest level, made little sense at the time.

Only recently I recalled this conversation while watching the 13 matches (seven in the limited overs format and six in the longer version) of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior inter county tournament, particularly the four-day version, where only two of the six matches went into the final day after some very mediocre batting. While three games ended inside three days and Essequibo lost to Berbice over two days at the petite Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground.

The batting was so horrendous that in Essequibo’s final innings of 145 against Demerara at Bourda, 10 batsmen apart from Ricardo Adams, who scored 97, accumulated just 48 runs among them.

A total of eight centuries and 24 half centuries were scored at the five venues that were utilized during the competition. Though some of the performances may be considered to be reasonable compared to the standards of recent years; the batting was terrible as teams were dismissed for scores of under 200 on 15 occasions.

To further break down the statistics, most of the milestones were reached at DCC where seven half centuries and one century were scored and the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, known as a batsman’s paradise, where four centuries and seven half centuries were made. That made it a total of five of the eight centuries and 14 of the 24 half centuries at those two venues.

Meanwhile, most of the half centuries in the longer format were scored at a healthy strike rate including two which were better than 100.

More interestingly, three of the four-day matches were completed by tea on the third day. However, cricket lovers who travelled to the various venues expecting to see quality matches may have had their expectations dimmed.

Several of them criticised the standard of cricket being played, particularly the batting. One spectator wondered if the match would even have been completed if he left the ground over a few hours.

Further, if one is to look at the average centuries and half centuries that were scored, it must be calculated by 37 innings (23 four-day innings and 14 during the 50 overs competition). Then it will take every 4.6 innings or approximately three matches before a century gets scored in the longer format while it will take 1.6 innings before a half century gets scored in the shorter version. From that perspective, it is clear that the level of cricket at the senior inter-county was poor.

Guyana has been without a first class title for 12 years, though this 2014 inter-county tournament has seen better performances in recent years. However, the overall state of play at this level is still mediocre.

From the late 90s to the early 2000s batsmen had to score heavily to book a spot on the national side. Currently, if a batsman scores a century he is all but guaranteed a spot on the national team. However, based on the listed statistics it is clear that some batsmen lack the temperament of the earlier stalwarts and don’t often demonstrate critical thinking at crucial points in the game, though they may have the talent to become quality batsmen.

If this crop of cricketers are continuously elevated to represent Guyana, the West Indies will always be needing quality batsmen.

So, if you are young and possess the abilities listed above, then apply within the scheduled period. Lots of positions are up for grabs!