“Weather and pitches affecting Guyana overseas performances”

“Weather and pitches affecting Guyana overseas performances” – Moore

Jan 27, 2009 Sports

GCB must deliver indoor facility this year

Chetram Singh

By Sean Devers
With two consecutive overseas defeats behind them, Guyana play the Leeward Islands in Nevis from Friday in their next match in the regional four-day cricket tournament and the team’s Manager Carl Moore is optimistic that his side will avoid a third straight loss.
“It is expected that we will do better in Nevis than we did in our first two games since we have had the experience of two matches overseas this year. While we cannot underestimate the Leewards, we must remind ourselves that they lost their last match in three days and their confidence should not be that high,” Moore said yesterday.
The Guyana team departs from Nevis at 10:00hrs today and once again Moore bemoaned the fact that the adverse weather at the starting and ending of the year in Guyana continues to badly affect the team’s preparation.
“As has been the case in the recent past we again left Guyana without no match practice because of the rain at this time of the year in Guyana and this continues to be a major problem since because of the rain in January in Guyana, we are now forced to play our first few games outside of Guyana,” Moore lamented.
With the length of the rainy season getting longer, Guyana’s performances at the start of the tournament on foreign soil is getting worse.
Guyana lost all of their first three away games last year and with two back-to-back defeats already this year it is imperative that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) deliver on their promise of completing their Hostel and indoor practice facility at LBI by this year.
Re-elected President Chetram Singh informed that US$90million is in the bank for this project adding that ‘red tape’ from Guysuco is delaying work at the East Coast Demerara venue.
Moore also told Kaieteur Sports yesterday after Guyana’s last practice session at the ‘practice nets’ at the Stadium was washed out, that pitches is also a major problem for the Guyana team on overseas assignments.
“We get little or no turf practice here before we leave for away games and even if we get in some net sessions the pitches here are much slower than those overseas and our batsmen seem to be troubled by the extra pace and bounce on overseas pitches. This seems to be a problem for all our teams at all levels and I think something has to be done to get our pitches here faster. I know the cricket board is working on this but I don’t know if it is the soil, the climate or what….but our pitches here are really slow compared to those in the region,” Moore explained.
In Trinidad and Barbados the indoor cricket facilities are equipped with concrete pitches covered with matting while there are turf pitches at the National Cricket Centre in Trinidad and the 3Ws Oval in Barbados, the venues that accommodate the indoor practice facilities in those two Caribbean Islands.
In Trinidad, there is a dormitory on the upper flat of the indoor practice area and teams can be accommodated, players can switch on the lights and practice in the middle of the night there even if it is raining.

Carl Moore

It is hoped that the hostel and indoor nets at LBI is similar if not as elaborate as the one in Cova, Trinidad and that a turf pitch will be available on the ground also.
Moore reasoned that since Guyana played two games overseas it could be viewed that they had two practice games on pitches similar to the one they should play on at Grove Park in Nevis. Although they had to resort to the placid pitches to practice on when they returned home last week, they should not have a big excuse if they bat badly in their next game.
Chetram Singh seems genuinely interested in developing Guyana’s cricket and it is expected that gratitude for support at the last elections does not prevent him from assembling the best possible team to move Guyana’s cricket forward.
While Singh’s astute leadership spearheading Guyana’s hosting of tournaments was one of the main reasons why he was re-elected ahead of this country’s hosting of the 20/20 World Cup next year, the indoor facility and Hostel, pitch preparation and the deployment of coaches to schools should be of no less importance than Guyana’s preparation for the 20/20 World Cup this year. Anything less will be unacceptable.