“Working on batting for long hours”-Bramble

By Clifton Ross

In-form Guyana Jaguars wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble said he is out to make amends in this year’s Cricket West Indies /Digicel 4-Day Championship following last season’s dismal performance with the bat.

After the third round ended, he right-hander was the team’s second leading run-scorer with 235 runs at an average of 58.75 with three fifties; 62, 90 and 57*. Compare it to last season’s 213 runs from 10 matches, averaging 15.21 with a highest of 42, it reflects tremendous improvement from the 26 year-old.

Prior to Thursday’s 4th round match versus the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Bramble told Guyana Times Sport that he was working diligently on batting for long hours out in the middle and is seeing the results.

“Comparing this season to last season, so far this season I’ve spent a lot of time at the crease look to bat long hours for my runs and it has been good so far”, said Bramble.

Bramble admitted that while some of his success has been credited towards his desire to spend long hours batting, he is also been enjoying the conditions, saying “For me, batting has been going ok so far. The pitches are good for batting but some of them are keeping a bit low”.

Up until the third round, Guyana had beaten off the likes of Jamaica Scorpions and Windward Hurricanes comfortably before running into their new-found nemesis; Leewards Hurricanes who almost handed the defending champs their third loss in two seasons were it not for the efforts of Bramble and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The 43 year-old ex-West Indies skipper rescued his team with a century sharing a resurgent 122-run partnership with the wicket-keeper who dogged the Hurricanes with his unbeaten half-century to help Guyana maintain their unbeaten run.

Regarding his match-saving partnership with the veteran Chanderpaul, the ex-Guyana Under -19 player admitted, “Well we had to bat out the day to save the game and batting with Shiv you will learn a lot of things in terms of batting and during our partnership He just told me to play the way I would normally play”.

With six rounds to go in this year’s Regional 4-Day fixtures, the composed middle-order batsman said he has not set aside any personal goals; rather he is backing himself and team to continue their good run, especially against the Red Force who is jostling them for the number one spot.

“I don’t have any personal goals, I just want to bat and score runs for me and my team. We are on top of the points table and the teams as well as I are pretty confident about doing well this round against Trinidad”, ended Bramble.