West Indies Championships: “We can’t play that type of cricket going forward”

…Hercules reflects on 3rd-round conclusion

Well on their way to an imminent draw on Saturday last at the Guyana National Stadium, the Guyana Harpy Eagles (GHE) seemingly lost focus under the lights as the swing of the pink ball obliterated the hosts’ top order in the second innings.
Both Raymond Perez and Matthew Nandu were out for a duck while Kevlon Anderson found the boundary once before departing.
Kevin Sinclair played a flashy innings, but an unnecessary shot cost him his wicket as the team were left at 44-4 in just eight overs, before the drawn result was announced.

Reflecting on the third-round West Indies Championship clash with the West Indies Academy, GHE Head Coach Ryan Hercules expressed his disappointment with the way in which his team batted in those final overs.

“Like you mentioned, not the result coming into the back end that I was looking at. Obviously, the rain would have played its part raining out on one day and not a lot of play on the first day. Pretty much disappointed to be honest, coming down to the back end, seeing the batting display that we just had. Obviously, guys need to take the responsibility and play the situation as it is. If you’ve got 15 to 18, 20 overs to go out there and bat, I expect that the top five batters or the top batters can go out there, play that role and take the responsibility,” the Head Coach exclusively told Guyana Times Sport.
He continued on Saturday night’s batting performance, “So, from a coaching standpoint, yes, we did get the first innings points, but it’s going to be some tough discussions in the dressing room on that performance and going forward, because I don’t think we can play that kind of cricket going forward, looking to win a title.”
However, the Head Coach is not too worried about that performance affecting his troops, highlighting that they will address it and bounce back.
Hercules explained, “The thing is, we still need to keep ourselves in a good space. Obviously, we’re professionals, these things do happen, but we need to address it and go back into training and work on it. So, when they get on the road, they need to play the brand of cricket we’ve been playing.
“Yes, it’s going to be addressed. I want men to reflect on what went wrong for this first block and what we as a coaching staff can do to improve them. So, when we start our training sessions, we get to Jamaica and we get back into competition, we’ll be ready to improve in those areas.”
The Harpy Eagles will now shift their attention to the Jamaica Scorpions, who they will take on in two weeks’ time. As the Scorpions are coming off a loss, Hercules is hoping his troops can capitalise.
The Coach opined, “That [capitalising] will play a big part for us. I think we should be top of the table after this block and yes, it will be a high-confidence team for us and yes, we will capitalise on whatever we can when we get to Jamaica. Conditions will play a part as well, it’s when we get to assess and adapt to those conditions. But we will see whatever we can take to our advantage and use that going forward.”
With injury affecting their pace-bowling department in the third round, Hercules is not too concerned about the pacers, but is hopeful of them having an ace up their sleeves for the next round.
“Still work in progress. We had young [Thaddeus] Lovell playing his first game, he didn’t get a lot of bowling; there’s Ronaldo [Alimohamed], who I think has been doing a really decent job for us and Nial Smith, who is also just back in. I think with those guys and with the support from the spinners, we’ll have a decent combination,” Hercules shared.
He later disclosed, “There’s some word, I think Sheppy [Romario Shepherd] probably could be available as well for that fourth round. So, we’re still trying to finalise that. Even if we get Sheppy in there as well, that will add to our batting and bowling. We’ll be okay for now, but we’ll just see as we go by.”
The Guyana Harpy Eagles take on the Scorpions at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, beginning on Wednesday, March 5.