Warrican preaching tactical awareness for Windwards cricket

Coach of the St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Under-19 cricket team and manager of the Windward Islands Under-19 team Irvin Warrican wants to see more emphasis placed on tactical awareness of the sport in the four-island grouping.{{more}}

Reflecting on the just concluded Winlott Inc Windwards Tournament held here, Warrican commented, “Based on the tournament, you saw a lot of talented young cricketers, talented batsmen, talented bowlers in the department, spinners, and fast bowlers, but my concere about the cricket is the tactical aspect.

“When you look at the tournament, I’ve seen a lot of flaws… The batsmen cannot play according to the plan… You set one plan and as they go over the rope; they do their own thing,” Warrican lamented.

Pointing to his own charges on the St Vincent and the Grenadines team, Warrican noted that in their last match of the tournament versus Grenada, all that was needed was for the batsmen to occupy the crease; however, they chose to go for runs.

Warrican also questioned the tactics of the Grenadians who chose the personal milestone of Emmanuel Stewart getting a hundred, over pushing for full points and a better chance of lifting the title.

“They played within our plan when they decided to allow Emmanuel to score his hundred. I believe they batted too long, which eased the pressure off the St Vincent and the Grenadines team and that is another example of the tactical shortcoming I am speaking about,” Warrican explained.

As a means of getting the local cricketers to become more proficient all-round, Warrican is proposing an under-19 team to compete in the Premier Division of the national cricket competition.

“I am asking the president of the local association (Kishore Shallow) that we should consider having an under-19 team to play as a unit with coach and a manager in the national competition in the Premier Division, so that you can work with them right through the year, because we need to improve on our tactics… The guys are talented I must say, but the tactical aspect is the major concern,” Warrican proposed.

As it relates to the wider Windwards outfit, Warrican is hopeful that when the team is assembled here for the West Indies tournament, several of the concerns will be addressed quickly, during the one-week training camp, prior to the tournament.

“Hopefully, when the guys come, they can learn and learn quickly… Based on what I see, I believe the Windwards would still give a good account of them… I think our spinners look pretty okay and we have some fast bowlers, they have some juice in them, but my concern is our batting,” Warrican said.

He stated that much will depend on Stewart, who is the team’s captain and who has experience with the West Indies Under-19 team which won the ICC title back in February.(RT)