King wants change to cultural attitude of players

Dec 31, 2009 Sports

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Says fitness is a part of cricket

By Sean Devers

Former West Indies Test pacer and new Cricket Development Officer of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Reon King wants the young Guyanese cricketers to change their cultural attitude to fitness as he aims to help move Guyana’s cricket forward in the new year.
The 34-year-old King, who took 53 wickets from 19 Tests between 1999 and 2005, says that while he is extremely pleased with the fitness level of the Guyana squad currently preparing for next month’s re-structured Regional 4-Day First-Class tournament, he wants the players to understand that in today’s game, fitness is very much a part of cricket and not an option.
The tall fast bowler with 293 First Class wickets from 95 matches was high in praise for the work done by National athletics coach and former Police division one pacer Linden Wilson and the staff of the Genesis Fitness Express Gym for playing a massive role in getting the players fit for next year’s competition.
King said that the contribution of Berbician Coach Michael Hyles played a great role in the team’s preparation while adding that Demerara’s Orin Bailey and Essequibo’s Linden Johnson were also a part of the team’s preparation.
“The work of Hyles was brilliant and I would say that he is easily our most experienced coach in Guyana. The way he interacts with this charges and his simple, down to earth but highly effective communication skills make him a big asset in any coaching system,” King opined.
The new CDO says that the good weather, use of the Guyana National Stadium and a willingness to work hard makes this team one of the best prepared in a long time.
“The guys will return to the City from January 4 for the second phase of their preparations and their 2nd 3-day practice match is scheduled to commence at Bourda from Tuesday. During the first phase we focused on fitness and now we will concentrate on match situations. Since I have been a part of Guyana’s cricket as a player or Coach I have never seen such a fit and happy bunch of players that seem eager to play as a team.
This is a well knitted bunch and I hope that when the senior players joins the squad on their return from Australia, they can add to the team spirit and unity we have right now,” King said.
King said that team has been handed over to the Coach Ravindra Seeram and Manager Carl Moore and he hopes that the GCB can sit with the senior players and explain to them the importance of playing as a team and representing their country.
“Now that camp has been broken for the Christmas holidays, the players are still expected to continue training and practicing in their respective counties and I know that Seeram has been working with the Demerara guys. Travis (Dowlin) asked to miss a session while I am not sure what’s the position with Shiv (Chanderpaul) although I am aware that he injured his finger in Australia and was told to rest for about 3 weeks,” King informed.
King, who began his First Class career in 1996, feels that the lay out for this year’s preparation was different and with the addition of his assistant and technical annalist Robin Singh, most of the targets areas have been achieved and now it’s the time to fine tune the actual cricket areas.
While King is satisfied with most aspects of preparation he is still hoping for a practice match under lights and has lamented that it is disappointing up to this point the WICB is yet to send the pink balls to be used in the night matches.
“While we understand the Stadium might be unavailable from early next year, a practice match under lights is still on the cards since we will be playing the first ever 4-day match under lights in the West Indies and we need to get accustom to the pink balls and playing under lights in white clothes,” King added.
King said that next year a lot more needs to be done at the club level by the players themselves so that when they gain national selection the training will not seem so hard to them. “Because most of the players don’t train hard enough on their own time when they arrive at a camp too much work has to be done on fitness and takes away from other things. Another problem is that because they do very little fitness work on their own, the work at the camp is sometimes too strenuous and the players suffer injuries which they should not be troubled with if they were training properly,” King, who played professionally in South Africa, lamented.
Guyana face Trinidad and Tobago in their first match in Antigua from January 15 under lights and play on each day starts at 13:00hrs and ends 20:00hrs and all 4 Test players (Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Dowlin and Deonarine) have been included in the 13-man squad to be captained by Sarwan.

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