National cricketers to do year-end physicals at home – Moore

Dec 28, 2008 Sports

---

Johnson, Deonarine & Dowlin need to ‘step up’

By Sean Devers
Carl Moore, Manager of the national team preparing for the 2009 Carib Beer Regional first-class four-day cricket competition informed that his players are expected to be engaged in physical preparation at their respective homes before the team begins its final encampment period in the city from January 2.
“We were scheduled to come back to Georgetown on Sunday (today) and then return home on December 30, but because of the present bad weather and the possibility of just doing physical work, it has been decided that it would be best to ask the players to keep training at home and then return to camp just after new year’s day,” the 57-year-old Moore said.
“I hope that the players fully enjoyed their Christmas festivities but remembered that they are training for an important cricket tournament that starts early next year and did not neglect their training. They will be at home for Old Year’s night before getting down to the serious business of playing a long first-class season,” Moore added.
Moore, the Guyana senior team Manager since October 2003, said the weather has again affected the team’s preparations.

“This is almost the same situation we were in last year when we did a lot of physical and had just three days of turf practice before we left Guyana. This team should be very fit and I hope that the lack of match practice will not be a major problem,” Moore said.
Moore, who served as national under-19 Manager from 1999 to 2002, feels that while the team has several young players including two without any first-class experience, there is plenty of talent in the 13-man touring squad and expects Guyana to be very competitive next year.

“Leon (Johnson), Narsingh (Deonarine) and the Skipper (Travis Dowlin) will need to produce consistently with the bat while the younger players have a chance to perform at this level. Even without much match practice, once you are fit, experienced players should be able to do adjust to the conditions overseas but it’s important that you are focused on the job. Once the players are mentally ready we should do well,” Moore explained.
He said that because of the rain early in the year in Guyana, the team have been forced over the last few years to play their first three or four matches away from home and have not done well on foreign soil.

“Because of our lack of turf practice and I think the lack of enough mental preparation we have struggled in our first few games away from home and we will focus on four days of intense preparation (both mental and physical) when the players reunite on January 2,” Moore disclosed.
The Guyana team will return to their respective homes on January 5 before they assemble in the City on the evening of January 6 to depart for Grenada the next day.
Last year Guyana lost all of their first three games (in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica) and the Guyanese are without a regional first-class title since 2002.

Even without the Test pair of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, it will be surprising if Guyana return from their opening games against the Windward Islands and the Combined Colleges and Campuses in Barbados with out points next year.
The South Americans, with seven titles since their first in 1973 under Rohan Kanhai, will draw a third-round bye before facing the Leeward Islands in Antigua and Barbados in Barbados before returning to Guyana to play Jamaica.
The Guyana team is expected to play a three-day practice game at the Guyana National Stadium from January 3 and Moore is hoping that the batsmen can quickly adjust to the bouncier pitches in the Caribbean after preparing on the docile track at home.
This could be the final opportunity for the talented but inconsistent 25-year-old Deonarine to stake a claim for a Test re-call with a prolific season after averaging 33.91 with just four centuries from 63 first class matches.
The elegant left-hander who averages a disappointing 21.40 from his four tests will spearhead the batting along with the 31-year-old Dowlin who averages 29.43 from 64 first-class matches with four tons.
The 21-year-old Johnson returned to Guyana on Christmas night after not playing in any of the two Tests in New Zealand. He scored a half-century in one of the three ODIs he played in Canada this year and he will want to improve his average of 35.91 from eight first-class matches to cement his place in the regional squad for the home series against England.
Twenty-year-old pacer Brandon Bess is genuinely quick while left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and leg-spinner Davendra Bishoo are expected to do lots of work with the ball this season after no specialist off-spinner was selected and Trevon Garraway, arguably Guyana’s best fast bowler, was surprisingly omitted.
Guyana 20/20 all-rounder Chris Barnwell and exciting opening batsman Shemroy Barrington are the players in the squad without first-class experience.
The Guyana squad read:- Travis Dowlin (Captain), Krishna Arjune, Shemroy Barrington, Leon Johnson, Narsingh Deonarine, , Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Christopher Barnwell, Veerasammy Permaul, Davendra Bishoo, Esuan Crandon, Brandon Bess, Steven Jacobs, Carl Moore (Manager), Albert Smith (Coach)

---

---