Crandon working to strengthen winning unit

Ahead of next month’s Cricket West Indies Regional 4-Day tournament, Guyana Jaguars Head Coach Esuan Crandon said the three-time defending champs are not relying on their track record; rather they’re looking to further improve as a playing unit.

Guyana Times Sport caught up with the ex-Guyana pacer turned coach on Wednesday at the Everest Ground where the latter along with assistant coaches Rayon Griffith and Clive Grimmond were conducting a number of exercises with senior members of the team and some of the academy players.
Following the conclusion of what seemed like a rigorous morning of training consisting of series of ground-fielding drills, slip catching among other routine exercises, Crandon during an interview admitted that he was pretty impressed with the attitude and drive shown by the players.

“Preparations have been going on for a while, since last season we had a month off and we started our preparation soon after and we have been training ever since. The thing I loved was the attitude from the guys because they were willing and eager to work hard with whatever we set out to do, we went through it professionally and they did it with purpose and good intent so I’m satisfied with but there’s always room to improve,” said Crandon.
Despite the reigning champs going through grueling periods of encampment over the past four seasons, the coach believed that they were on the right path as they are continuously looking to practice the fundamentals of the sport.
“We’re trying to instill in them the basics and have them practice it daily because we always have room for improvement and we’re in a good mind set so it’s just about us keeping up the work as time progresses”, explained the Coach.
With a wealth of experience in the camp, Guyana are well poised to successfully defend their title come this season and will rely heavily on their senior crop of players such as; skipper Leon Johnson, Vishaul Singh, Raymon Reifer, Veerasammy Permaul, Rajendra Chandrika and others who have all represented the West Indies at one level or the other.
However, Crandon pointed out that while his senior guys are the ones who the onus is usually left with, he wants to continue to blood his team with younger players who deserve a chance and could equally support their more experienced teammates if selected.
“It’s always good to give the young guys an opportunity and most of them did well in the recent U19 and they were rewarded with academy contracts. We also have the 3-Day League which has given us the opportunity to see a wider base of players and a few we haven’t seen in a while,” he noted.
Crandon concluded his interview by highlighting the importance of attitude and drive as crucial areas for success. “It’s always important for players to show the right attitude because the achievements of the past few years have gone so we have to look to keep playing better cricket now.”
He continued, “We’re always looking to bring in young guys to learn from the senior guys, because guys like Shiv (Chanderpaul), Johnson, Vishaul and Permaul are senior guys who have been doing the bulk of work over the years while the younger guys are chipping in, we don’t want to push the youngsters in without anyone to learn from”. He ended.