Rain hit National U-19 team practice match

Jun 25, 2010 Sports

Bowling is our strength says Coach

By Sean Devers
The opening day of the three-day practice match for the national under-19 team scheduled to commence at the Eve Leary ground yesterday was washed out due to heavy rain in the city and the prospect of play today is not good.
The team, led by National under-17 wicketkeeper Dexter Solomon, who makes his debut at this level, had a practice session at the indoor facility at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence yesterday afternoon and Coach Hubern Evans said he is satisfied with the preparation so far although he is hoping for at least two practice games before the team depart Guyana for St Lucia on July 6.
The team is a young one with most of the players including ‘baby of the side’ 14-year-old national under-15 left-hander Brian Sattaur, eligible for next year’s tournament.
While Guyana dominated Regional under-19 cricket in the 1990s, winning an unprecedented six consecutive titles from 1992, the team has not been as successful in recent times and has not won a title since Steven Jacobs led them to championship honours in the 3-day tournament in 2008 in St Kitts.
That same year they lost to Jamaica in the one-day final at Warner Park and are still hunting their first limited overs title.
Yesterday Evans told Kaieteur Sport that while the rain is affecting match practice, the youths have been working hard on their fitness and are enjoying their daily workouts. “The other day we went to the (Cliff Anderson) Sports Hall for a session and due to boxing we could not use the venue. The guys ran from there back to the Hostel (at LBI) and they do so with ease.
The fitness level of this team is very high since it seems most of the players were doing work on their own before we began our encampment,” Evans said.
Evans, a former Guyana first-class left-hander, played the first of his nine first-class matches in 1977.
He replaced Orin Bailey as national under-19 Coach in 2004 in Jamaica and coached the team to back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
The 54-year-old Evans played 7 of his first-class matches for Berbice but he played against Trinidad and Tobago in the 1977 Shell Shield tournament and against the touring Australians for Guyana the next year.
He said that Yoga and weight training has also been included the youngster’s programme and feels that while the batting is competent the strength of the team is the bowling. “This year our bowling is very strong and I am confident that we have the fire power to bowl out teams twice to win matches. Leg-spinner Amir Khan could be our trump card while West Indies under-19 pacer Keon Joseph should be among the quickest in the tournament and made his first-class debut this year in Grenada,” Evans said.
Evans added that the new indoor facility has played an important part in the team’s preparation, especially with the rain affecting our turf work. “This is a wonderful facility of the preparation of teams and the guys are allowed to use to indoor nets whenever they want from 5am to 10pm. It’s great to wake up and see some of the batsmen using the bowling machine at 5 in the morning or at night,” Evans said.
Former Guyana Cricket Board executive Alvin Johnson, who has been the Manager since the 2003 tournament in Guyana, said he is pleased with the discipline and team work shown by his charges and said that work on the mental aspects of their game will be done to ensure that they fully understand what it means to represent their country and what is expected of them.

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Rain hit National U-19 team practice match

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