Re-called Sarwan was not sure what to expect

Dec 21, 2010 Sports

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Wants to focus on Guyana first

By Sean Devers

The Christmas season is usually filled with good tidings and yesterday it was officially announced that Guyana Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan was named in the 30-man West Indies World Cup training squad.
But the elegant right-hander who has not played an International match since last May when he played against South Africa in Antigua admitted that while he is pleased to be back in the reckoning he was not sure what to expect after being overlooked for the rain ruined ODI series in Sri Lanka.
The 30-year-old who has played 83 Tests and 156 ODIs and averages higher than any other present West Indian in ODI cricket (Ave 43.94), took time out from his hectic training session with the Guyana T20 team in the sweltering heat at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday to explain that his focus is on leading Guyana to a back-to back Caribbean T20 title next month and to keep doing what he has to do with the bat for whichever team he represents.
“I have been working hard with the Guyana team. I am feeling fitter and stronger as the days go by. I had a good knock in the Inter-County T20 competition and I feel I am striking the ball well so all I can do is to keep playing well, do what I have to do and hope that everything falls into place,” Sarwan said.
According to the regional selectors, Sarwan was not given a Central Contract and was subsequently over looked for the Sri Lanka tour because of fitness issues.
Sarwan says the entire Guyana team is enjoying their preparations for the 2011 Caribbean T20 which starts on January 10 when they face Jamaica in the 2nd match of the day’s double header in Antigua.
“We have being doing a lot of physical stuff and the guys are actually enjoying these sessions. The attitude to the training has been excellent from everyone and you can see we are getting stronger physically and mentally as a unit. We are the defending T20 Champions and we know everyone will be gunning for us after we qualified for the Champions League in South Africa this year. We want to prove our win (Caribbean T20) was no fluke,” Sarwan said.
“It is always an honour to represent the West Indies and the World Cup is massive tournament but I don’t want to get too much ahead of myself. Right now doing well in the T20 and qualifying for next year’s Champions League in India is our (Guyana players) main objective.
I am enjoying my cricket and looking to play a key role with the bat for Guyana,” Sarwan disclosed.
Not a destructive big-hitter, Sarwan, with four T20 fifties, has a fair T20 strike rate of 108.79 as compared to players like Chris Gayle, whose strike rate is close to 150.
He informed that he is getting better at T20 cricket, adding that you can stroke the ball around, find the gaps and hit boundaries without slugging to be successful in this format.
His 70 in the last Champions League game in South Africa was a fantastic innings and he feels that with Narsingh Deonarine now out of the Guyana team due to injury, Guyana’s chances could depend heavily on how well he and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the team’s most experienced batsman, bat in the middle order in Antigua and Barbados next month.
Sewnarine Chattergoon has replaced the injured Deonarine in Guyana’s squad and Sarwan explains that this could disrupt the initial plans to possible use Chanderpaul as opener.
“When we opted to leave Chattergoon out it was with the thinking that Shiv could open and bat through the innings but now we will have to adjust.
Losing Deonarine’s experience creates an impact in the middle order and now either Shiv or I might have to bat at 4 since we don’t want to leave too many inexperienced players at the bottom of the innings,” Sarwan stated.
“T20 is a fast paced game and you have to be thinking all the time. Hopefully we would have learned from South Africa and we have to remain positive without being reckless.
The senior batters will have to pull their weight and I think we have a decent bowling attack especially with (Veerasammy) Permaul back to join (Devendra) Bishoo,” Sarwan said.
Guyana will play three practice matches in Trinidad from December 27-30 and the Skipper noted this is a great opportunity to see where the team is in terms of balance and strategy.
“We have not had much cricket as a team and we have a couple of new players in the mix so Trinidad will be great for us to try and get our combinations right and see the new players in a match situation before we play in the Caribbean T20.
I am looking forward to hard positive cricket from everyone next year. Of course I would love to play in the World Cup and I am working hard on my personal game but for now the focus is on helping Guyana retaining our title,” Sarwan informed.

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