Regional Four-Day tournament: Be tough and smart: Coach Crandon’s message to Guyana Harpy Eagles batsmen

By Brandon Corlette

Guyana Harpy Eagles will open their Regional Four-Day campaign on February 9 against Windward Islands Volcanoes in Trinidad and Tobago. Despite Guyana winning the Regional Four-Day championships on five out of six occasions, the batting has been a concern, while the bowling has held its own.
Esuan Crandon, Head Coach of the Guyana Harpy Eagles, is calling for batsmen to be tough, and not complicate things. “Basically, simple message to the batters is that don’t complicate things. The basics remain the same. Just to be tougher, smarter, willing to fight throughout tough periods, be clear how you are going to play, structure your game plan, opposition you coming against, bowlers you coming against.

“Simple things that we stressed upon over the years, we will continue to stress about those things. We have been seeing some progress, and we are hoping to make that transition into 4-Day cricket from our first game,” Crandon told this daily publication.
In the three trial matches, the scores were low, with the exception of the first match that saw Shimron Hetmyer and Tevin Imlach scoring centuries at Albion.
For this upcoming season, the Guyana Harpy Eagles batting group includes Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Leon Johnson, Shimron Hetmyer, Tevin Imlach, Akshaya Persaud, Vishaul Singh and wicketkeeper-batsman Anthony Bramble. All-rounder Keemo Paul would also offer support in the batting.
Based on statistics from the last Regional 4-Day tournament (2019-2020), which saw Barbados Pride dethroning the Jaguars, captain Johnson was the leading batsman with 472 runs in that season.

Christopher Barnwell, who has performed consistently at the regional level, was the only other batsman to score more than 400 runs; he accumulated 435 runs. However, Barnwell, who scored a composed half-century in the final Harpy Eagles trial match, is not in the red-ball plans for Guyana.
According to Crandon, the team has shown great progress since the team’s training session began in December.
“I think we are getting there. Gradually, we are getting where we want to be as a team. Individuals show progress from December, when we started, to now; physically, mentally and tactically. It is a work in progress, we looking to get better, every day that we hit the cricket field or the training venue. I am happy with the progress thus far.
“We will continue to go forward to ensure that we achieve what we set out to,” Crandon added.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles squad reads: Leon Johnson (Captain), Keemo Paul (Vice Captain), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Vishaul Singh, Askhaya Persaud, Anthony Bramble, Tevin Imlach, Veerasammy Permaul, Gudakesh Motie Nial Smith, Clinton Pestano, Shimron Hetmyer, Keon Joseph and Antony Adams.

The reserves are: Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Kevin Sinclair, Kevlon Anderson, Ronsford Beaton, Trevon Griffith and Demitri Cameron.