GUYANA’S national cricket team will wing out of the country tomorrow night to begin their campaign in the regional Carib Beer 2005 cricket series.
The team, who should have departed today for Trinidad and Tobago will open their quest for regional cricket supremacy against the hosts at Couva starting on Friday.
According to manager Carl Moore the one day delay is a setback to plans, “we would have really liked to be in the Twin-Island Republic much earlier so that we could have had some practice outdoors, but as it is now, we’ll just have one day before the match which means we will return to the National Gymnasium,” a disappointed Moore stated.
The Guyana 13-man squad held a session yesterday morning at the Gymnasium under the watchful eyes of former national captain Roger Harper, who has been working with the team over the last four weeks.
And Moore does not think that the team is too inexperienced mainly due to injuries of some of the more experienced players and seasoned players. Though they may be green they have had some exposure at other levels of the game. Moore expects the team to do well, taking into account the intense preparation with coach Albert Smith and Harper.
The Guyanese will be led by 23-year-old Berbician all-rounder Damodar Daesrath, who will be one of the two back-up seamers for pacer Rayon Thomas and debutant Trevon Garraway.
Guyana’s main strength is in the spin department with veterans Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil McGarrell, both of whom have played Test cricket and performed consistently well at the regional first-class level.
A lot will depend on Nagamootoo and McGarrell, but Moore thinks the team’s strength is in their batting.
For this tournament, the management team is adding a new dimension to their game plan and strategy, Moore declared. “What we have done is to get the players to give their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents and Smith and Harper evaluated the information and came up with a game plan which each player has to study going into our matches,” Moore noted.
The manager added that all the players are fit and ready for the long haul and team spirits are high. “Every one is conscious of what happened last year and the players are determined to do well and bring home some points,” Moore quipped.
Moore further stated that Guyanese can expect the team to go out and play good cricket, in the away matches, whether win , lose or draw.
The team for the away matches against Trinidad and Tobago, the Leewards Islands, the Windwards Islands and Jamaica is: Damodar Daesrath (captain), Narsingh Deonarine (vice-captain), Ryan Ramdass, Krishna Arjune, Assad Fudadin, Troy Cornelius, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Vishal Nagamootoo, Neil McGarrell, Imran Jafferally, Trevon Garraway and Rayon Thomas.
The reserves are: Zaheer Mohamed, Lennox Cush, Zamal Khan, Darwin Christian, Rayon Griffith, Esaun Crandon.