Adams urges cricketers to use U17 tourney as a stepping stone

Jul 23, 2017 Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....as-a-stepping-stone/

By Zaheer Mohamed

Former West Indies Captain and CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams said he is happy with the raw materials available in the Caribbean. Adams was speaking at the closing ceremony of the regional U17 50-over tournament which was held at the National Cycling Centre in Balmain, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night.
Trinidad and Tobago retained the title after rain put an end to an exciting climax of the competition. Barbados took the runner up spot. Guyana won two out of four games, while their last match was abandoned against Barbados at Gilbert Park.
Adams stated he is impressed with the talent at this level and urged the players to use the tournament as a stepping stone for their careers and he hopes to see them playing at higher levels in the future.
“The raw material here gives encouragement and we want to ensure that the system polish the players so they can perform consistently on the international stage,” he added.
He congratulated the top performers of the competition and spoke about the importance of age group cricket in the region.
Adams, who played 54 test matches and scored 3012 runs at an average of 41.26 with a highest score of 208 not out, thanked the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board for hosting the tournament and stressed about the importance of sponsorship.
CEO of TTCB, Suruj Ragoonath, said the U17 tournament is being used primarily to bridge the gap between the regional U15 and U19 competitions stating that 13 of the 15 players that played in the victorious West Indies U19 World Cup team last year participated in previous U17 tournaments. He congratulated the players and urged them to remain committed.
Leonardo Julien of Trinidad and Tobago received the award for effecting the most dismissals as a wicket-keeper, 12, two ahead of Guyanese Kevin Christian. Rashawn Worrell of Barbados who scored the only century (101), was the highest run scorer with 137 runs at an average of 45.67 followed by Kirk McKenzie of Jamaica with 123 runs at an average of 24.6 with his best being 81, Guyanese Sachin Singh was third on the table with 121 runs at an average of 30.25 with his best being 52. Kevon Anderson was the other Guyanese in the top 10, placing seventh, scoring 108 runs at an average of 36 with a best of 52.
Sameer Ali of the home team and Matthew Forde of Barbados took the most wickets (13), but Ali, who had a best of 6-9, took home the award with an average of 11.15, while Forde, who had a best of 4-25, averaged 12.46. Guyanese Kevin Umroa and Anderson were among the top wicket takers with both of them taking five-wicket hauls; the other being Ali and Zawandi White of Leeward Islands.
Avinash Mahabirsingh of Trinidad and Tobago was voted the most valuable player.
Meanwhile, some of the earlier games were also affected by the inclement weather.
Guyana registered victories against Jamaica and Leeward Islands and lost to Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands, while their last game was against Barbados. They finished on 13.3 points behind T and T 19.8, Barbados 15.3, Windward Islands 14.5, Leeward Islands 13.3 and Jamaica 1.3.
While Adams said that he is satisfied with the standard of the tournament, many batsmen failed to carry on after getting good starts. Names that readily come to mind are Sachin Singh, Kevlon Anderson and Alex Algoo. Guyana had one of the most powerful batting sides on tour, but had to rely on bowlers to win games. The bowlers, mainly the spinners, did a fine job, however the fast bowlers didn’t get an opportunity to bowl for long spells primarily because the batsmen failed to put decent scores on the board; spinners were introduced early.
With a batting line-up that includes Singh, Algoo, Anderson, Junior Sinclair, Kevin Christian and Orlando Jailall (who didn’t get an opportunity to bat), much was expected, but they found it difficult to adapt to the bouncier pitches there; some pitches were difficult but they could have done better- however, poor shot selection caused their downfall.
Going forward, it is likely that these players will be selected to represent Guyana at the U19 level in the future, in fact, some of them are in the team for the U19 tournament starting shortly in St. Kitts.
But lessons must be learnt from the U17 tournament. Players must be able to bat on different surfaces in order to perform consistently overseas. Players should not depend solely on coaches, at times they must be able to work on their own and do not wait for a tournament to start to find form; rather they must enter a tournament match-ready.