National CT20 team fully focused on job ahead – Manager

By Rajiv Bisnauth

Despite the interference of the weather, head coach of the national cricket team, Esaun Crandon is pleased with the team’s preparation for next month’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Twenty20 tournament.
During an interview on Tuesday at the team’s indoor session held at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at LBI, Crandon declared that the team have so far completed a number of fitness and conditioning sessions, along with four net sessions and a game simulation which was done on Monday.
“The guys were a bit rusty, understandably so, because there was not much cricket being played, but for me to say I am not happy with preparations, means you are asking me to lie to you because I am happy. The weather is somewhat against us, but we had a perfect practice game Saturday evening against the Unity/ Lancaster Sport Club where the guys played some good all-round cricket,” said Crandon.
The 30-year-old Crandon noted that experienced players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan have “led from the front” during these phases of preparation and have expertly guided the team. “They have all displayed a willingness to work hard heading into this tournament and at times one can hear the voice of Sarwan and Chanderpaul urging the players on and that speaks volumes for the team,” Crandon revealed.
The former player-turned-coach continued, “We always did well in the shorter version of the game, even though we have not won a regional championship after the 2010 team won the Twenty/ 20 tournament. However, we are looking to go and emulate that team and bring home the trophy.
He added that skipper Veerasammy Permaul, who was part of the West Indies Test and ODI teams to Bangladesh, will join the team during the course of the week. According to Crandon, who represented Guyana in 38 first-class matches, the team will break camp next Saturday and regroup on January 2 for another week before they depart for the tournament.
Meanwhile, in an invited comment, team manager Alvin Johnson told this publication yesterday that the team is not distracted by the current cricket impasse between the GCB and government, but rather they are focused at the job at hand.
“Despite the current cricket impasse between the GCB and government the team remains focused. At the moment, we are experiencing some difficulties with transportation since the GCB bus is not made available for us to use. But apart from that our preparation for the tournament is on track,” Johnson said.
The WICB indicated after that they will proceed with the team submitted by the GCB for next month’s tournament. Guyana will open their campaign against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) on January 7 at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, while their other matches in the preliminary round will be against Barbados (January 10), Trinidad and Tobago (January 12), Jamaica (January 15), Leeward Islands (January 17), and Windward Island (January 18).