Guyana All-Stars Coach Esuan Crandon said he expects his team to come good this Saturday when they tackle the Trinbago Titans in the Cheddi Jagan Centenary T20 Cup, played under lights at the Albion Ground, Berbice.
Speaking with the former Guyana all-rounder turned four-time Regional Four-Day winning coach during Thursday’s practice session at the Bourda Cricket Ground; Crandon pointed out his players who were happy to be on show this weekend.
“It’s good that the players made themselves available to play the match in honour of the late President Dr Cheddi Jagan. It’s also good that they get to play because every chance they get to play is one to capitalise on and make it count, the more they do well and perform and it’s out there in the media it will help to boost their skills and help advertise what they have been doing,” said Crandon.
Coach Esuan Crandon addressing the Guyana All-Stars team during their practice session at Bourda on Thursday
The event will see Guyana’s best squaring off against the Trinbago Titans in what should be a highly entertaining encounter between two star-studded teams. Crandon believed while it was just one match, it was still equally important for the players to get some quality match time in against players who they may likely face or partner up with in future matches.
Guyana’s line-up features Leon Johnson, Chris Barnwell, Assad Fudadin, Romario Shepherd, Ricardo Adams and Anthony Bramble among other top stars. The Titans on the other had have also beefed up their side with big guns such as; Rayad Emrit, Lendl Simmons, Nicholas Pooran, Kevon Cooper, Amir Jangoo and others.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for all the players… to go out there and play some good, competitive cricket. Obviously you would want to be a professional when you go out there every time and remain competitive and not take anything for granted or lightly”. Crandon, who has been in many regional battles over his career, further said that despite his confidence in Guyana; he was still weary of the Titans.
“Trinidad will come and play very competitive cricket because they have a good squad, so we will just urge our players to go out there and make us proud and as well the fans will be out because it’s been awhile since we had such a match with big name at the venue”, added the coach.
“They (Shepherd and Rutherford) are good talented young players and they have been rewarded… so we expect them to do well. As I said they’re very talented and positive. I really want to see how they operate in the T20 match…”.
With just a day left until the two sides meet, the Guyana Jaguars head coach was strongly backing his boys to counterattack the Titans and secure the title for their country at home. “The guys would have known some of the players coming in so we’ll have our plans in place for them. A few of those guys are very experienced when it comes to T20 cricket and Trinidad has done well in the shorter version over a number of years”.
“They have had loads of players… so they have a lot of knowledge in this particular format of the game but we will our plans in place and go and play competitive cricket and win the trophy on home soil”, Crandon ended.
The match of this standard under lights at Albion and gates will be open from 16:00h with the first ball set to bowl off from 18:00h. Admission to the ground is $1500. Trinbago Titans Squad: Rayad Emrit, Lendl Simmons, Imran Khan, Steven Katwaroo, Roshon Primus, Deron Davis, John Russ-Jagessar, Amir Jangoo Nicholas Pooran, Kevon Cooper, Tion Webster and Vikash Mohan
Guyana All-Stars: Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin, Sherfane Rutherford, Akshaya Persaud, Chris Barnwell, Raymon Reifer, Gajanand Singh, Anthony Bramble, Jonathan Foo, Romario Shepherd, Veerasammy Permaul, Ricardo Adams, Steven Jacobs, Devendra Bishoo, Gudakesh Motie and Keon Joseph
