Crandon wants batsmen to score heavily
Georgetown, Guyana - Even though Guyana came away with a massive 243-run victory over the Leeward Islands in their first round West Indies Cricket Board Regional 4-Day match at Windsor Park, coach Esaun Crandon is calling on his batsmen to score heavily. The 30-year-old Crandon who played 36 first class matches for Guyana, in which he has scored 702 runs with a highest score of 51 not out against the Windward Islands two years ago, showered praise on his spin twins, skipper Veerasammy Permaul and West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.
“First
of all, I am really happy to have a winning start to my coaching
career, especially at such a young age. It’s a lot of hard work and I am
not expecting it to be easy, but the team supported me very well and
I’m looking forward to their continued support.
Looking back at that
match, it is obviously that our bowling was of high quality and was well
backed up by excellent fielding. Our fast bowlers Brandon Bess and
Christopher Barnwell, with support from Assad Fudadin, got us off to a
good start by taking early wickets and putting the opposition under
pressure,” said Crandon.
He added, “This made it easy for our spin
twins (Bishoo and Permaul) who did most of the damage for us, to come on
and get wickets. They extracted lots of spin and bounce from the pitch
while exhibiting patient and constantly hitting the good areas, much to
the detriment of the opposition batting lineup.”
Looking at the
batting lineup which consists of Fudadin, Barnwell, Sewnarine
Chattergoon, Rajendra Chandrika, Leon Johnson, Narsingh Deonarine and
Crandon’s younger brother Royston, the coach expressed disappointment at
Guyana’s total, especially in the first innings.
“While I can say
that there were a few positives in the batting which was not of the
best, I think that the batting lineup we possessed should have posted
bigger scores for us, especially in the first innings.
“We had a
partnership between Deonarine and Johnson, both of whom should have
gotten bigger scores, while Fudadin also played well for his second
innings knock, with support from Permaul, Bishoo and Derwin Christian,
but as I said before, we need the batsmen to carry on and get bigger
scores.
A few guys played well taking into consideration our lack of
proper preparation before the first game, but given the time we have
before our next game, I am looking forward to a much better batting
performance from the guys,” said Crandon.
Quizzed on his expectations
from the team who would, for the first time, be playing all their
matches away from home, Crandon said the ability to focus and adapt to
the different conditions would be the key for Guyana’s success.
“Since
we would be playing all our matches away from home it is important that
the guys adapt to different conditions, stay focused and be prepared
mentally, physically and technically for the battle ahead, as every game
after this victory is going to be tougher.
“I think we have the
ability to do this and with the bowling that was displayed against the
Leewards and to an extent the batting, I believe we can finish within
the top four and advance to the playoffs; but the only way to do so is
for our batsmen to capitalise on the starts they are getting.”
Guyana
oppose the Windward Islands in their second match at the same venue
from tomorrow, looking for their second victory in this year’s
tournament against an opponent who not only lost their first round match
to defending champions Jamaica, but also defeated Guyana outright in
last year’s tournament.
