Griffith looking forward to working with Hooper

Jun 10, 2015 Sports

CPL team to have first practice session tomorrow at Providence

By Sean Devers
Forty-eight-year-old former Guyana and West Indies Captain Carl Hooper has been appointed Head Coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2015 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) t20 Cricket tournament which is scheduled

Trevon Griffith batting in the nets.

to commence on June 20 in Barbados.
The Warriors play Barbados Tridents in the opening game as Hooper with 13 centuries from 102 Tests, makes his return the West Indies cricket on an Island where he is revered.
The first t20 tournament in the West Indies was in 2006 when Guyana, aided by a last over six from Narsingh Deonarine who has been bought by Jamaica, beat Trinidad & Tobago in the inaugural Stanford t20 tournament.
However, Hooper, known for his silky strokes in Tests and ODIs, was playing t20 cricket in England three years before the shortest version of the game was introduced to West Indies.
Hooper played the first of his 10 T20 games for Lancashire on June 16, 2003 so he has first-hand experience of that format and comes on board as Coach with 16 years of International cricket under his belt.
One player who is eagerly looking forward to meeting ‘Sir Carl’ as he is called in Barbados, is 24-year-old left-handed opening batsman Trevon Abashai Griffith who was the youngest player in the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise for the first ever CPL tournament two seasons ago.
“I have heard so much about his grace and class as a batsman and I am eagerly looking forward to working with Carl Hooper as Coach,” Griffith told Kaieteur Sports from the

The Providence Pitch being prepared yesterday for tomorrow’s CPL Practice session.

Providence Stadium where the Guyana Jaguars First-Class Franchise players were involved in their last training session before they broke camp for the CPL tournament.
All of the ‘Warriors’ players with the exception of the three in the West Indies Test side which oppose Australia from tomorrow in Jamaica, are expected in Guyana this evening. Windies trio Denish Ramdin and spin twins Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul are scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday.
Griffith feels that the continued training sessions of the Guyana Jaguars First-Class players is great preparation for the CPL tournament since they are eight Guyanese in the 15-man squad and in previous years the players were not training together on a regular basis once the WICB Regional tournament finished.
“I am confident of doing well once I am given the chance to play. I had few opportunities at this level but I am striking the ball well and working hard on my fitness and the mental part of my game,” said Griffith who has played 12 t20 matches, scoring 197 runs with a highest score of 41 and a Strike Rate of 100.51.
“The Amazon Warriors has been the most consistent team in the CPL. We have reached the Finals in the two tournaments we have played and I am confident that if we play to our full potential we will overcome that final hurdle and win our first title this year,” opined Griffith.
Griffith came to prominence at the Regional level when he scored the most runs in the TCL Group West Indies Challenge U-19 tournament in 2009 in Jamaica. He scored 406 runs at an average of 40 including a shot-filled century against Leeward Islands in the opening game.
He made his T20 Debut for Guyana against Leeward Islands in Antigua in January 2012 before playing the first of his seven First-Class against Jamaica in Antigua the next month.
His Regional one-day debut was for the West Indies U-19s against the Leewards in Guyana 2009 in a match that was washed out after six overs were bowled. A pugnacious opener who reminds fans of the late Roy Fredericks when he is on song, Griffith first represented Guyana at the Regional 50-over format in 2011 against the Windward Islands.
“I always take delight in representing my country at any level of cricket and it will serve as a major benefit to me as a player.” said the DCC batsman, who thinks Shiv Chanderpaul’s experience will be of tremendous benefit to the team.
Sunil Narine was retained for US$150,000 and is the highest paid player in the team. Lasith Malinga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lendl Simmons and Brad Hodge are the other overseas players.
Chanderpaul and Assad Fudadin have been bought by the Guyana Franchise for the first time but it is not clear if Chanderpaul, who was absent from yesterday’s session, would be involved for the Warriors’ first practice session tomorrow at the Stadium.

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