Players wanted to leave since first day

Feb 15, 2011 Sports

Says Leewards Manager Percy Daniels

By Sean Devers

Manager of the Leeward Islands team Percy Daniels said his players wanted to leave Guyana for Antigua since the first day of their second round regional four-day cricket match at Bourda.
The game was officially called off yesterday morning without a ball being bowled due to rain. Both teams collected three points.
The third no-result between the two sides in 32 matches leaves Guyana, who lost to Jamaica after taking first innings points, with seven points while the Leewards, beaten by England Lions in their opening game, are now off the mark on the points table.
The Leewards are scheduled to depart Guyana today for Antigua where they oppose CCC from Friday and Daniels informed that his players were restless and eager to leave since they were greeted by a waterlogged Bourda on Friday morning.
“The drainage at Bourda is not the best in the world and there was a lack of the type of equipment and manpower needed to facilitate some play after so much water was on the ground. With the weather forecast not promising, we knew from the first day that it would have been very hard to have any cricket,” Daniels said.
The Manager said that since some of the players have been here before and knew what to expect when it rains, it suggested that the team leave for Antigua early.
“Our Coach even sent an e-mail to the Leewards Board to try and get us to Antigua where we could have had some turf practice. We lost our first game in three days so since last week Sunday we have had no cricket except for three practice sessions at the indoor nets here and the artificial pitch is a lot different from the turf pitch,” Daniels said.
The Leewards Manager was also disappointed with the apparent lack of interest shown for this game since he claimed no West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Official was present at Bourda.
“We suggested to Match Referee Reon King that we would have liked to sit with a WICB official and discuss the prospect of us leaving early. The response we got from our board was that cost was the main problem since changing the departure dates would incur a fee,” Daniels explained.
Daniels said that since the players were doing nothing in Guyana some of them were willing to pay the date change from their own money.
“When I contacted the Liat office they informed that since we had gotten a group package we could not just change the flights of some players. They told us that we had to deal with our booking agent which was the WICB so we were stuck here with no cricket,” Daniels added.
The Manager disclosed that there are no fitness concerns in the squad but stressed the main problem could be getting the players back in ‘match mode’ as they aim to climb out of the cellar position and challenge for their first title at this level since they shared the 1998 championship with Guyana.
“The loss in St Skitts (last match) was significant and I wanted to get the guys back into match mode since that game finished a day early. It’s like starting over when you lose that cricket mode.
It could be a big effort to get the players to start over mentally when we get to Antigua,” Daniels opined.
He said the biggest concern is the mental state of the players since because they did not have to be at the ground in the mornings many of them would wake up late over the past few days in Guyana.
“This is now like starting a new tournament instead of building on the momentum of matches played.
West Indies under-19 player Kieran Powell maiden’s First-Class century was the only bright spark for the Islanders in their innings and 120-run defeat against the English ‘A’ team and players could have lost their places for the third round.
“We would have liked to see how some of the guys perform here but with no cricket we will go into our next match with the same squad. We were really hoping for a good showing here.
Now we have to focus on having a very good game this weekend to stay in contention this season,” Daniels said.
After sharing the 2010 Regional 50-over title with a tie against Barbados in October’s final in Jamaica, the Leewards were the first team to be knocked out of last month’s Regional T20 tournament.
With regular Skipper Wilden Cornwall not selected for this competition, the Islanders will be hoping for better weather and improved results against the Students in Antigua from Friday.

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