Head coach of the Guyana cricket team, Ravindra Seeram, said he was anticipating a tougher Leeward Islands for their WICB Caribbean T20 opener at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds (SVRCG) on Monday night.
Guyana rose about their off-field problems to defeat the Leeward Islands by five wickets when they met in the feature match of a scheduled double-header on the tournament’s opening day.
According to Seeram, his players did well under the circumstances, especially having come into the tournament without a single practice match under their belt.
“Pertaining to what we had home and getting no practice (matches) probably because of our problem, I think the guys did very well. I think in this version of the game Guyana have always done well, so I think they just came out here last night and decided to try and get a win and build a winning momentum,” he said.
“At one point, we thought that because of our lack of match practice we didn’t really have (anything), so we were hoping they would have given us a fight because they had more of the practice than anything else,” Seeram added.
Guyana’s bowlers, after being asked to field, bowled economically, restricting Leewards for 134 for six.
Steven Jacobs picked up two for 18 in four overs. Several of Leewards’ batsmen got starts but didn’t push on. Justin Athanaze dealt some big blows in the late overs to finish with an unbeaten 30 off 15 balls.
Guyana lost a couple of early wickets in the chase but useful contributions from the middle order saw them through.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck four sixes in his 30; captain Christopher Barnwell made 21 off 19 balls; Leon Johnson top-scored with 37 off 32 and added 23 in quick time with Royston Crandon.
Victory was achieved in the final over, with four balls to spare.
According to Seeram, however, the team must press on and he is hoping they can build on their victory over the Leeward.
“I think the win last night was good but we have to work a bit harder especially in terms of our bowling down at the depths. I think that is one of the concerns right now and we can’t let up, we just have to keep practicing and practice as hard as possible so that we can get the best out of them. We have three days at least, before the next game so we are trying as hard as possible to practice as much as possible so that we do not let down anything,” he said.
“We just want to make sure we can get past Trinidad and for the competition it is that you just have to win six games so the whole idea is just to keep winning all the time,” the coach added.
In the opening fixture, Windward Islands had the better of defending champions Trinidad and Tobago by 11 runs.
After choosing to bat, Windwards found themselves in a tricky situation at 73 for four but Darren Sammy, their captain, made an unbeaten 41 off just 31 balls to take them to a competitive 129 for four.
Lendl Simmons began positively for T&T in the chase, though the going at the other end was slower. When he fell, in the 13th over with the score on 59, the pressure was on T&T.
Shane Shillingford picked up three wickets and was supported by Garey Mathurin, and Windwards won despite a half-century from Dwayne Bravo, who was the ninth wicket to fall.
T&T lost seven wickets for 59, and were restricted to 118 for nine.
The competition continues today when Canada will toss up against the Windward Islands at 4 pm, and Leeward Islands take on Trinidad and Tobago at 8 pm.
Guyana will play Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.
(Source http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=69723)
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