The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has welcomed the benefits of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) territorial batting camp, which concluded at the National Stadium on Friday, October 9.
In a press release, it said that ten batters and more than a dozen local coaches benefited from the specialised programme.
The camp, which began on Tuesday, October 6, was led by CWI batting consultant Bob Carter and featured three net sessions. It focused on refining individual batting skills, improving technique and enhancing players’ ability to execute different shots against pace and spin bowling.
President of the Guyana Cricket Board, Bissoondyal Singh, welcomed the camp, emphasising that such specialised programmes are integral to the Board’s broader vision of establishing a structured and sustainable development pathway for Guyanese cricketers and, by extension, West Indies cricket.
“Player development cannot be achieved in isolation. It requires a coordinated approach involving technical training, coaching education, talent identification and continuous exposure to modern cricketing methodologies. This initiative by Cricket West Indies complements the GCB’s ongoing efforts to strengthen our cricket development structure, ensuring that both our players and coaches are equipped with the knowledge, skills and opportunities necessary to achieve excellence.”
The release said that Singh further underscored the importance of collaboration between the territorial boards and Cricket West Indies in developing a unified cricketing pathway.
“The development of West Indies cricket begins at the territorial level. When we strengthen our coaching capacity, improve our players’ technical abilities and create clearly defined opportunities for progression, we are not only building stronger Guyanese teams but also laying the foundation for a more competitive and successful West Indies cricket team,” Singh emphasised.
GCB Cricket Operations Manager Anthony D’Andrade said the initiative provided valuable technical guidance for the batters while also offering local coaches the opportunity to gain exposure to batting development.
“The focus mainly was on tweaking basic things for the batters, like setup and execution of different types of shots, and facing pace and spin bowling,” D’Andrade said, according to the release.
The camp also provided a learning opportunity for more than 12 coaches drawn from franchise, county and association levels, including representatives from Linden, Essequibo and Berbice.
D’Andrade said that the programme offered coaches a different perspective on structuring training sessions, particularly because of its emphasis on batting.
“Most of those coaches would not have had the opportunity to be in a setup of that nature, whereas the coaching programmes that we would have done would have had focus on batting, bowling, and fielding,” he explained.
He added that the format allowed coaches to observe how batting could be developed through more targeted training methods.
“So this camp being a specific batting camp, it gave them the opportunity to see how they can set up batting programmes in a different way,” D’Andrade said.
The release said that the GCB views the involvement of both players and coaches as an important component of its continued efforts to strengthen cricket development across Guyana. By exposing batters to focused technical instruction and providing coaches with practical insight into specialised training methods, the initiative is expected to contribute meaningfully to the development of players at various levels of the game.
The Board reaffirmed its commitment to working with Cricket West Indies and other stakeholders to establish a sustainable and progressive cricket development pathway that will benefit Guyanese cricketers and contribute to the long-term success of West Indies cricket.
The GCB also extended special thanks and appreciation to Dwain Gill, CWI High Performance Manager, for his support, coordination and commitment to the successful implementation of this initiative.
Discussion