Assistant Coach Hercules not blaming bowlers for Harpy Eagles’ ordinary outing

By Brandon Corlette

The Guyana Harpy Eagles recorded one win and suffered a heavy defeat in the first two rounds of the Regional Four-Day Championship tournament played in Trinidad and Tobago. With three other rounds remaining, which are set to bowl off in May, the Assistant Coach of the Guyana Harpy Eagles, Ryan Hercules, has said the team must execute plans on the next outing.

Prior to the start of the tournament, talking points were raised about the lack of variety in the Harpy Eagles bowling, which included three left-arm spinners and a pace attack that included all right-arm seamers. However, these bowlers are all quality, and would have had success in the past.

“In terms of our bowling group, we had lots of meetings going into the two games. We just needed to work a bit more together as a bowling group. There were times guys were bowling very well, but did not get support from the other end; so, the guys will already know what they have to do for the next few games,” Hercules told this daily publication.
“Back in Trinidad, we did mention the aspects that we were lacking in terms of our different areas and working together and working with plans, so it is just to execute in the next outing,” he said.
When asked directly if the Harpy Eagles lacked variety, Hercules said: “When we looked at selection heading into the two rounds, we did back ourselves. We had two games in which we would have won convincingly. The first one was 50/50, but at the end of the day, it was a win. The second game, when we looked at our variety, our batters could have gone out there and performed a bit more. So, I am not pointing fingers in terms of our bowling and our variety. We just have to execute plans,” he said.
“The game was there for us to win from the beginning, but we did not go out there and be responsible enough. I would not go and talk about the variety of the bowlers, certain things should have been executed, the basics in cricket that we did not do, that we have to pay serious attention to heading into the three games,” he explained.
The players are currently engaged in training sessions. Most of the players assembled at the National Aquatic Centre on Wednesday for a recovery session, after intense fitness drills at Providence.
“We had a good recovery session in the pool. We had two hard days’ work at the National Stadium, and we focused this week on endurance. We know the guys would be feeling it a bit today, so we had a bit of recovery session at the pool, which was very good,” Hercules noted.
In Harpy Eagles’ second game, they lost by an innings and 57 runs. Batting the Harpy Eagles out of the contest, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes declared on 438-7, made in 146 overs. In reply, Harpy Eagles scored 265 all out in 50.1 overs, after scoring 116 all out in the first innings.
In the first match, Volcanoes posted 339 all out and 190, while Harpy Eagles made 327 and 203-9. In terms of points’ standing, Guyana Harpy Eagles are in fourth place with 21.4 points from one win and a defeat.