‘We owe it to ourselves and the fans to do well’ says Fudadin

Feb 10, 2011 Sports

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Assad Fudadin

By Sean Devers

For the first time since 2001, Guyana captured first innings points in a first round Regional game when they gained a 33 run-lead last Saturday against three times defending Champions Jamaica in their opening Regional Four-Day game at Alpart in Jamaica.
But after entering the final day in a position to finish the game with the upper hand, the South Americans lost all of their second innings wickets to lose by 165 runs, 45 minutes before Tea.
After a maiden five-wicket haul from Test pacer Brendon Bess helped to dismiss the hosts for 150, Guyana replied with 183 to put themselves in a strong position to win their first game against Jamaica at this level since their 51-run victory in Jamaica in 2006.
However, Marlon Samuels signaled his return to First-Class after a two-year ban with a magnificent unbeaten 250, the third Regional highest score ever registered by a Jamaican to push his team to 391 and set Guyana a victory target of 359 in just under four sessions.
From 77 without loss the Guyanese crumbled for 193 as leg-spinner Odean Browne snatched 5-69 and pacer Jerome Taylor 3-40 leaving the visitors with four points from their first match.
Guyana, without a First-Class title since 1998, face the Leewards at Bourda from Friday in their second game.
Skipper Assad Fudadin said that although the batting was the main concern, he is confident of doing well this season since he has seen a significant improvement in the attitude of the players from the last few seasons.
He is satisfied with the overall work of his bowlers in the opening match adding that Samuels’ fantastic innings proved the main difference. The 25-year-old Fudadin led Guyana at the under-19 level in 2003 and has never lost a tournament as Berbice senior Captain. He explained that his first game as Guyana senior team Skipper was not a difficult assignment.
“I have played with most of these guys and I captained many of them for Berbice so I knew their capabilities. We enjoy a great friendship in the team. The fact that we were able to dismiss such a strong Jamaica batting line-up for 150 on the first day made my job that much easier,” Fudadin, who has played 36 First-Class matches informed.
Fudadin’s leadership on the field received high marks from many in Jamaica and the left-hander who played against Pakistan ‘A’ in St Vincent for the West Indies ‘A’ team last November said he enjoyed his first game as Captain.
“It was a bit more challenging in the second innings due to Samuels’ innings but I enjoyed the tactical contest. Apart from Samuels who batted really well, none of the other Jamaicans in both innings were able to get on top of our bowlers,” Fudadin said.
“In the first innings the bowlers were very consistent and bowled in partnership and even in the second innings we were able to contain their batsmen although at times we were not as consistent as we should have been in line and length to Samuels……but he looked in tremendous form and some of his boundaries when Jamaica were looking to declare came from some pretty decent balls,” Fudadin added.
“I am pleased with the bowling. Our focus is to put runs on the board. With the home advantage for next game we are confident of doing well,” Fudadin stated.
Eight LBW decisions, some of which seemed questionable, went against Guyana in Jamaica and the Skipper, who scored 23 & eight, seemed unlucky in both innings.
Fudadin said his job is not to judge the Umpires but to make runs and respect their decisions and informed that the hardest part of the match for him was seeing the team collapse on the final day after at one point having the game to win.
“None of us got a big score although most of the batsmen got starts and I feel when I got out in the first innings that was a turning point in the game. (Derwin) Christian and I were now getting a partnership going and were hoping to get a lead of over 100,” Fudadin opined.
He said that not capitalizing on starts is an area that Coach Mark Harper and the batsmen are working on.
“We are aware of what went wrong and aim to change the mental aspect of our batting in our next game. We are doing a lot of mental work as a unit and everybody is comfortable with each other. I can see and feel the improvement in attitude in the camp. Everybody is making an effort to do well. This is just our first game and without our senior batsmen I think we competed well against one of the top teams in the competition before spoiling our work on the final day,” Fudadin said.
“We have not been doing well in Four-day cricket and we owe it to ourselves and the Guyanese public to improve since they have been waiting for a long time for us to make them proud. The team and I are determined to change that this season since it is time for Guyana’s cricket to move forward,” the Captain said.
He said that there is talent and self belief that the team can do well this season especially after the way they bowled in Jamaica and feels once the batsmen concentrate a bit harder the young team can surprise a few people.
“Look we know that we can bat but the Coach is now focusing on our mental strength and batting long, building partnerships and shot selection….I have been batting well for the last two seasons with consistent scores but I have been unable to get my first century.
“We again threw away our advantage in Jamaica with our second innings batting… the pitch was a bit unpredictable and the bowlers bowled well but we also played some loose shots. But with this first match out of the way we know what we need to do and as a unit we are working towards doing it,” an upbeat Fudadin explained.
He added that with so many West Indies ‘A’ team opportunities available this year is provides added motivation to do well individually.
“I love the tactical part of cricket and read a lot of books on leadership so I enjoy captaincy. It also forces me to be more responsible and try to lead from the front so I don’t think this job will affect my game in anyway,” Fudadin disclosed.
Bess added control to his usual raw pace and Esuan Crandon was hardly off-target with the new ball while the spinners troubled the batmen in Jamaica. Rajendra Chandrika and Shemroy Barrington were hardly troubled in their 77-run opening stand before they both fell to loose shots while Fudadin, Leon Johnson and Christian all looked solid but wasted good starts.
On what is expected to be a good track to bat on at Bourda from Friday its now up to the batsmen to contribute big scores as Fudadin hopes to lead Guyana to its seventh First-Class title this season.
After one match the signs are encouraging, although the result, on which the team will be ultimately judged by, was another defeat for the Guyanese who retuned home on Tuesday night.

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