Newly-elected Essequibo Senior Women’s Head Coach Ryan Hercules said he was looking forward to the challenges of breathing fresh air into the team, following a disappointing 50-over series.
The former U-19 pacer, following his recent appointment, told Guyana Times Sport that while the task of rebuilding the women’s team would be hard, he was eager to help restore some fire in his county’s female division.
“Indeed, it’s a bit more technical, because we have girls that’s never played cricket before. Bringing them straight into a tournament is always going to be a tough challenge, but they can only get better with dedication and hard work; I keep mentioning it to them,” Hercules said.
The Essequibo senior female team have had a torrid outing in inter-county cricket
Hercules, who took the senior Essequibo male team to the Jaguars 3-Day title, said he was still positive about his team’s success going forward. “We have a few players that have played national female level, but were out for a while so a lot of work will be done by me over the next three days starting today at Everest.”
He continued, “We have three days before our next T20 encounter, and we will work very hard on certain aspects to improve the players’ catching, spot bowling, batting, etc.”
ryan hercules
Essequibo were thrashed by eight wickets on Sunday courtesy of Demerara, before being hammered by more than 150 runs by the Berbice ladies.
The new Coach admitted that the players have a long way to go but while things might be difficult at first, he was adamant that he could turn their fortunes around. “Yes, it was a hard start for us coming into the tournament with nine players in the first game, no manager and coach, so it was always gonna be a challenge,” he noted.
“When you have a team that came with no coach, no manager and short of players, but I’m here and into the second game, we had a full side and we will work step by step to be more competitive in all aspects,” the ex-pacer said.
Regarding the future of the ladies team and their journey to rebuilding, the new Coach said that he wanted to get them on par with the females from the other counties. “I don’t think we can get them equally on the level of the men, but we can get them to a high level as other female players in the country. A lot of work will be done and we are looking forward to the days ahead; they’re keen on playing cricket and hopefully with my help, I can try my best to get them to a level where they can get success.”
Concluding his interview with this newspaper, the former youth player hailed the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) for its support of Essequibo in a time when they are currently rebuilding both male and female teams.
“I must commend the Guyana Cricket Board for their help with the Essequibo team, knowing they could have just scratched them out, but they chose to keep them and work with the players to improve their game.”
