Red to white ball transition key as GRR prepare for Breakout League

This Friday, Cricket West Indies’ newest addition to its line-up of tournaments, the West Indies Breakout League, will bowl off at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.

A joint initiative with the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Breakout League will offer young players the opportunity to showcase their talents on the regional stage with a stipulation for teams to comprise players under 30 years old with fewer than 40 List A T20 matches and 10 T20 Internationals under their belt.
In a quick turn-over after the West Indies Championship Four-Day tournament, the Guyana Rainforest Rangers began their preparations last week.
During the team’s last session before departing Guyana’s shores, Head Coach Ryan Hercules highlighted the areas he chose to work on with his troops.
Hercules explained, “We had three sessions. Obviously, the time was short coming back from the Regional Four-Day tournament, so we had two match scenarios which we concluded on today and we had in the middle, pitch session.

So, it was basically having the guys get the transition from red-ball cricket to white ball cricket and it was a quick transition for that stage. Having the guys start to work on executing some plans as bowlers, building partnerships as batters, how we go about handling ourself in the powerplay which is a very important task for us and the middle and end phase.”
“So, we just try to have a combination of how we’ll want to play the cricket over in Trinidad during the last three days,” he added.
Zeroing in on the quick transition from red-ball to white-ball cricket, given that a majority of the Guyana Harpy Eagles players will be competing for Guyana Rainforest Rangers (GRR), Hercules noted that understanding the T20 format will be key to the transition.
“Basically, understanding the format we’re going to play. We all think T20 cricket is something you can go and try to hit the ball for six and four, but getting them to also have a blueprint like we do in the Four-Day as well, to have a formula in terms of how we bat,” the Rainforest Rangers Head Coach divulged.
“So, it’s a mental transition for the guys. The good thing is that we have players who were playing in the Four-Day, a bulk of the guys are in the T20 as well, some senior guys too. So, it’s not pretty hard for them to make that transition, but for me, I just want them to understand how to handle certain scenarios and situations when it presents itself.”

Quizzed about his views on the new T20 tournament, Hercules voiced an appreciation for giving the youngsters in the Caribbean a chance to showcase their skills.
Hercules opined, “I think it’s a great initiative, because we know, some of these guys, when they don’t get the opportunity to make a Four-Day or Super50 team, you can lose good talent during that period. Like I said, it’s a great initiative getting these guys in and also the inclusion of two overseas players in the team to give you that added boost.
“Even to the age factor as well, under 27 and from 27 to 29, the two or three players who can be between that age; to help bring that experience in the team. So, great initiative and I do hope it’s something that can be successful and we’ll see more of this going forward.”
The Guyana Rainforest Rangers will take on the Windward Islands Infernos in the opening game of the Breakout League on Friday, April 25. That game will bowl off at 15:00h.
The GRR team read: Captain Kemol Savory, Vice Captain Nial Smith, Ashmead Nedd, Ronaldo Alimohamed, Kevin Sinclair, Kevlon Anderson, Rivaldo Clarke, Isai Thorne, Zeynul Ramsammy, Quentin Sampson, Jediah Blades, Richie Looknauth, and Riyad Latiff.
The team’s reserves include Jonathan Van Lange, Thaddeus Lovell, Aryan Persaud, Myheim Khan, Joshua Jones, Leonardo Julien and Damel Evelyn.