Gajanand eyes return to Regional 4-Day cricket

Gajanand Singh in CPL action against the Trinbago Knight Riders at the National Stadium, Providence last month. (Orlando Charles photo)
Gajanand Singh in CPL action against the Trinbago Knight Riders at the National Stadium, Providence last month. (Orlando Charles photo)

Gifted middle order batsman, Gajanand Singh has candidly expressed his desire to rekindle his first class career, fully understanding that he needs to score heavily in the ongoing Guyana Cricket Board/ Jaguars Franchise League in order to stake a claim for his return to the National side.

Singh, after a prolonged absence from the game, recently made a return to competitive cricket in the just concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with the Guyana Amazon Warriors. His focus has now shifted to the longer version of the game, and he will suit up for Lower Corentyne from today, to back his desire to play at the highest level.

“My first goal is to play the cricket I can play and score a lot of runs, put lots of it [runs] on the board and with runs there, everything else will take care of itself,” Singh told Stabroek Sport.

He further added, “In doing so, I hope to catch the eyes of the selectors and get back into the Guyana first class team.”

Singh, a left-hander with all the shots in his armoury, further expressed his confidence in making the white clothes return this season, after observing that his opportunity may come as a result of other players having commitments with the West Indies A team during the 2017/2018 regional first-class season.

“Looking at the amount of cricket coming up, there are a lot of [West Indies] A team tours during the first class season, while a few of our players went to other teams – Assad Fudadin has signed with the Jamaica Scorpions – but having said that, I’m still looking at myself to perform, so as to give myself the best possible chance to comeback.”

The Berbician made his first class debut nearly a decade ago against Jamaica and has since played ten matches, the last of which was against the England Lions in 2011. He has scored two half centuries, while sporting a batting average of 25.06, a statistic he really wants to improve on.

In concluding the light chat, the stocky former West Indies youth player, shared his thoughts with Stabroek Sport following his CPL experience, “Mentally and physically, I’m stronger than ever. It was great experience coming off the CPL, getting the opportunity to play with some senior international players helped me to gain a lot of knowledge about my game.

“I think I can play [in] all formats of the game. I had a reasonably good tournament, it wasn’t the best, but given the chances I had, I think I did fairly well and I know that I can be successful at that level.”