Eagles Assistant Coach Nedd says team upbeat, confident ahead of opening match today versus Red Force

Feb 07, 2024 Sports

CWI Regional 4-Day Championships Round 1…GHE vs. TTRF

Guyana Harpy Eagles Assistant Coach Garvin Nedd speaking with a few of his players during training ahead of today’s first match.

Head coach of the Eagles Ryan Hercules (first from left), taking his team through the paces as they fine-tune themselves for the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force encounter.

Kaieteur Sports – Defending Regional 4-Day champs Guyana Harpy Eagles will open their title defence against long-time rivals, Trinidad & Tobago Red Force and Assistant Coach Garvin Nedd said the champs were poised as they head into battle, when opening round of the 2024 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional 4-Day Championships bowls off today in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Guyana will be wary of the looming threats which they will face over the next few weeks as they seek to return home with yet another 4-Day title under their belt. The Guyanese lot, led by Kevlon Anderson will be keen on making a strong statement against the equally young Red Force side led by West Indies wicket-keeper Joshua DaSilva.

Assistant Coach of the Guyana Harpy Eagles team, Garvin Nedd, during an interview prior to the team’s final training session on Tuesday, said his boys were eager to get themselves going in this opening round.

“The mood of the players in the camp is good, everyone is in good spirits. We had a good session yesterday (Monday) where our batters had a hit and our bowlers did some assessment work regarding the type of surface and soil which they will be operating on here in St. Kitts over the next few days,” Nedd explained.

The ex-Guyana national youth spinner further explained that along with Head Coach Ryan Hercules, the pair have been working along with leading 4-Day cricket’s wicket-taker Veerasammy Permaul, as they map out logistics surrounding a key area of the Eagles, their spinners.

“Some of the areas we will be focusing on as coaches in the nets or in the game is to build pressure and be consistent. We also want our bowlers to work in tandem, especially our spinners, who we want to see operating as a team. Our senior pro Permaul is also lending his expertise and sharing knowledge having been at the top level, so we just want to ensure that the bowlers can focus and do what they need to do,” said Nedd.

Speaking on the importance of opening their account with a win, especially as champs, Nedd was adamant that getting off to the best positive start is what’s required for a successful campaign this season.

“It’s always good to start this 4-day tournament on a winning note or even a draw, so you can get your max bonus points heading into the next round, which plays a role as we go deep into the tournament. We also know that Trinidad will be coming for us because we have quite a similar setup in terms of skill set, so we will definitely want to perform.”

“Having said that, the last couple of years we have secured more victories against them, I think the last 5 years we had 3 out of 5 encounters with a draw; so we know the track record and how to play against them. For us, it’s just for us to go along with the coaches’ plan and execute them.”

The last time these two teams met was almost one year ago (March 2023), although slightly new-look now, the Guyana Harpy Eagles beat Red Force by 143 runs. Today’s match will be important for both teams, especially Guyana who will want to see their new captain and a few uncapped players in action.

Meanwhile, the two first round games between Guyana and Trinidad, as well as the West Indies Academy and Leeward Island Volcanoes will bowl off from 10:00h. Barbados Pride and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) along with Jamaica Scorpions and Windward Island Hurricanes, will bowl off from 12:00h.

Guyana Harpy Eagles squad: Kevlon Anderson (captain), Matthew Nandu (vice-captain), Veerasammy Permaul, Antony Adams, Kevin Sinclair, Ronsford Beaton, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymond Perez, Ronaldo Alimohamed, Steven Sankar, Kemol Savory (wicketkeeper), Richie Looknauth and Neiland Cadogan.

Red Force squad: Joshua DaSilva (captain), Bryan Charles (vice-captain), Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Terrance Hinds, Jason Mohammed, Jyd Goolie, Jayden Seales, Anderson Phillip, Vikash Mohan, Cephas Cooper, Tion Webster and Khary Pierre.

Garvin Nedd, Guyana Harpy Eagles, Joshua DaSilva, Regional 4-Day champs

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